Collect for Easter 6
1 Peter 3: 13-22
John 14: 15-21
“Parting is such sweet sorrow”. That’s all very well for Juliet – she’s looking forward to marrying Romeo the next day, and the delight of expectation is building with each hour’s delay. Little does she know what’s going to happen.
Neither did the disciples, and according to John’s Gospel account of the Last Supper, unlike Juliet, their troubled hearts suggest they’re not looking forward to it much.
Jesus tries to reassure them, but only after His passion and Resurrection will they remember what He said and understand that the road to Freedom will necessitate travel through the darkest of dark moments. However they will not be alone, and His parting from them will only be for a short time – and then they will be with Him for eternity.
Peter’s letter shows that he did finally understand. Initially, he was reluctant to allow Jesus the Servant King to wash his feet. In the garden late that night He fought those who came to arrest Jesus. In fear, he denied that he was one of Jesus’ followers. After the crucifixion, he hid to escape being arrested.
And then, his life changed. No longer frightened no matter what happened. The empty tomb. The upper room. The miraculous catch of fish at the sea of Tiberius. Forgiveness and commissioning. Establishing the Church. Proclaiming the gift of the Holy Spirit. Proclaiming the Good News. Eventual martyrdom. Faithfully doing right, whatever suffering might ensue.
We too are challenged to live as disciples, and we have the benefit of scripture and history. We know that the story will end with Christ victorious. Whatever the ups and downs of life, no matter how we are maligned, whatever difficulties we face, we know that He is with us always; we lift high His Cross – and live.
The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’
Go in peace, to love and praise the Lord and all His creation, giving thanks for the blessings of tomorrow – and the day after, then the day after that, and all your days. In the name of Christ. Amen
Previous Posts
Praying Together 28th September 2025
I hope and pray that I shall leave the world in a better place than I entered it, otherwise I shall have wasted the opportunity to live in freedom of body and soul as a disciple of Christ.
Praying Together 21st September 2025
‘…make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes…’
Praying Together 14th September 2025
It didn’t matter what you had been, said or done – like Paul, you were given the chance to repent.
Praying Together 7th September 2025
So, if we truly offer Him everything, does that leave us with nothing? Quite the opposite. When we give our life to Jesus, it includes the bad bits as well as the good bits.
Praying Together 31st August 2025
The heavenly banquet has only one rule of etiquette – That you accept Jesus , the Christ, as Saviour and Redeemer. And then your place and theirs is at the head of His table, alongside Him.
Praying Together 24th August 2025
Salvation does not ever come through religious practice – it comes through Christ, the only sinless one, whose sacrifice is given as a free gift in love, to those who can’t help themselves.
Paying Together 17th August 2025
We ask that our faith is strengthened in the power of the Spirit when it is tested – and that we will have the courage to live as the Body of Christ, who alone offers life.
Praying Together 10th August 2025
And while we think of the things we value most, do we remember that we are of such value to God, that His Son was prepared to go into the flames for us?
Praying Together 27th July 2025
In a word, it is all prayer, a rich sequence, choreographed in different moments of gathering, praise, listening and communion.
Praying Together 20th July 2025
Jesus comes to us in many ways and with many faces. Are we aware we may ‘entertain Angels without knowing it?
Praying Together 13th July 2025
May we never miss meeting your gaze,
in the eyes of our sibling, the stranger.
Praying Together 6th July 2025
Always remember that ‘success’ is simply doing His will – it’s not necessarily achieving the outcome we would ourselves consider to be ‘successful’. Leave that definition with Him.