Sunday, April 29, 2018

5^th Sunday of Easter

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:

First Reading: Acts 8:26-40, Psalm 22:25-31
Second Reading: I John 4:7-21
Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8

The liturgical color for the day is: White

The 5th Sunday of Easter provides wonderful opportunities for preaching.  The Gospel Lesson is one of the “I Am” statements of Jesus—“I am the vine, you are the branches.”  If preaching on this passage you may want to invite your session to offer the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper this Sunday.  The Gospel Lesson pairs well with communion.

The story in Acts is that grand story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch.  As the story begins, it says: “Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go…” (Acts 8:26)

It is an imperative.  God called Philip into active service.  Philip, as a follower of Christ, was to both be listening for that call and be receptive to it.  Philip was to be that vessel through which the presence of God could move.

See this is still how God works for us who are his followers of Christ.  There is within us this voice—call it an angel, call it the Spirit, call it the presence of God.  There is that voice within us that calls us up into service.

Our job is to be responsive to that voice and step up and move forward even when it goes the opposite direction of what our natural inclination is to go.  That voice is not an audible “You do this now” voice—it is that inner prompting.  It can be that gut feeling.  It can be that nudge—gentle sometimes and at other times an all-out push.  It can be that friend or that colleague.  It is that voice we hear as we gather together—the voice of each other.  That is that God-breathed, Spirit voice prompting us to answer the claim of God on our life.

God had a purpose for Philip that day.  “Get up and go.”

God has a purpose for us today.  “Get up and go.”  Our job is not to let events unfold and watch them on television.  Our job is to be actively up and going.  We are to be up and going with prayer.  We are to be up and going figuring out how it is we help to shift the world to be a more just, more loving, and more peaceful place for all God’s children to dwell.

That imperative—“Get up and go.”—Jesus calls that being branches.  “You are the branches.” (John 15:5)