Thought for the Day - Sunday 7 June

Thought for the Day – Sunday 7^th June

‘Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Today is Trinity Sunday and our reading is Matthew 28: 16-20 which is usually entitled ‘The Great Commission’ and which is I am sure very familiar to us as it is shared often in our Baptismal Liturgy.

This is the point in Jesus’ story where following his Resurrection he comes to his disciples and commissions them to continue his work, to continue what has been his mission on earth. He now gives to them their mission – they are to go and make more disciples, they are to baptise them in the name of the Trinitarian God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit and they are to teach them Jesus’ way. A daunting prospect for them no doubt without their mentor there to guide them but knowing his disciples so well, Jesus offers them reassurance that they will not be undertaking this work alone, he makes his promise to them that he will be with them always to the end of time. In this promise it is almost like Jesus saying, at my birth I was Immanuel – God with you - and now as I take my earthly leave of you I am still God with you and will be with you always, for the Holy Spirit will be with you at all times as you seek to do all I am commissioning you to do.

His commissioning words to them are short and sweet but also vast in their scope, ambition and challenge. It is amazing and sometimes hard for us to comprehend but here are what is but a mere handful of people and yet wonderfully here we ourselves are as disciples of Jesus today! So they must have undertaken their mission for Jesus - no doubt sometimes with enthusiasm, sometimes with dread; no doubt with all kinds of fits and starts, no doubt with many a wrong turn, no doubt following misguided paths at times but nonetheless they held fast to their mission of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to all nations and across all ages. Surely we would not be here today if it was not for them and all those later disciples who followed in their path, all those who carried on the ‘Great Commission’ given to those first disciples by Jesus himself.  In giving that commission to those first disciples Jesus launches a whole worldwide movement, a movement that embraces all people and draws the whole of creation into that movement. No wonder those first disciples needed a bit of reassurance that they would be up to the task, as do we as Jesus’ disciples today. 

We live in a fast changing world, a world of many uncertainties yet that ‘Great Commission’ is also ours to undertake today, but how do we ‘make’ disciples?

Discipleship has become something of a ‘Buzz Word’ within the church and is portrayed in many forms by many people with no one really agreeing as to one definition of what a disciple is or how you ‘make’ someone a disciple, for what may work in one context may not work in another.

However, it seems to me that in the ‘Great Commission’ we have a good exemplar for making disciples but I would probably start from the end of the commission first where it says ‘teach them of me’.

No matter how daunting this mission may be for us today, if we are showing Jesus and his ways to the people around us and to the world by our living, by our actions, by the way we speak, by the way we treat people, then surely we are sharing the Good News of Jesus because we are modelling or imitating his way for others to see. Then from that modelling of Jesus relationships can grow, truly authentic relationships, which over time may deepen and where it may then be possible to share even more of Jesus’ teaching together not just by modelling this time but perhaps also by looking to scripture and learning from the interactions of Jesus with his disciples. The hope always being that as relationships grow and as people get to know more of Jesus and his ways that they might wish to commit to becoming one of his disciples and being baptised themselves. 

Often the prompting of the Holy Spirit will lead us into that modelling of Jesus and that forming of relationships, yet I know sometimes people can be reluctant to even begin to do so – to form those authentic relationships with others because it can lead to them feeling vulnerable and maybe out of their depth. However, we have to remember that promise Jesus gave, and it applies not just to those first disciples but to us too. Jesus promised that he is there and will be there with us always to the end of time. So in all we are trying to do for him we should not fear, we should not doubt, we should just begin to undertake our mission, we should go and make disciples, go and model Jesus to all people and be open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in all we do.      

His last words to his disciples were, ‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

What a blessing to us as we seek to fulfil our mission in this time and this place!

Prayer

Loving Lord,

You call us to join you on your mission, you seek us to be your light in any darkness, your voice in any wilderness and your hope for the hopeless. Constantly remind us lord, of your promise to be with us at all times and give us strength in our weakness, peace and gentleness in our ways and the words and the boldness we need to model and proclaim more of you and less of ourselves to others.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Communion Reflection

Today should have been Communion Sunday and so I offer an informal way to celebrate Communion in your own home.

If you wish gather together a newspaper and use it as your table covering, also some bread and some wine and then sit in a quiet space with the newspaper headlines laid out before you and then reflect on these words from Roddy Hamilton, one of our Spill The Beans team, before taking bread and wine.

Here is bread
Good News for the world
with a headline that says:
let all who are hungry for justice
come and eat

Here is wine
Good News for all who long
with a headline that says:
let all who thirst for righteousness
come and drink

Here is the table
Good News for all who are lost
with a headline that says:
all who are weary
come and gather here

Here is community
Good News for all whom the world ignores
with a headline that says:
behold I make all things new
come and be renewed

Here is Jesus
Good News for all who wait
with a headline that says:
I have come that all may have life
come and live life fully

Now quietly and prayerfully share your bread and wine.

A Prayer for after communion

Loving God,

May all that you have taught us spill over into our everyday life and knowing ourselves loved by you, may we love one another and be prepared to keep on imitating you and making relationships until all have life and life abundant. Amen.