Sunday 27th May - Pentecost
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 28th May
No Morning Prayer

Tuesday 29th May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 30th May
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 31st May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 1st June
 
Saturday 2nd June
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 3rd June - Trinity Sunday
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with baptism of Hector Wallace and Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 4th June
7.45 p.m. Barkway VCC, Manor Farm

Thursday 7th June
8.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Church committee meeting, The Old Post Office, Barkway

Sunday 10th June - Trinity 1
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway, with the Revd Canon Michael Sansom
7.30 p.m. Simply Reeds, Concert at St Mary’s, Reed, in aid of church funds

Monday 11th June
7.00 p.m. Church Times study group

Saturday 16th June
11.00 a.m. Baptism of Charlie King, St Mary’s, Reed

Sunday 17th June - Trinity 2
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
2.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Church Open Gardens (until 6.00 p.m.)
5.00 p.m. All-age worship, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 18th June
7.30 p.m. Barley PCC mission sub-group meeting, Willetts, Barley

Wednesday 20th June
8.00 p.m. Deanery Chapter, St Mary’s Aspenden
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Thursday 21st June
5.00 p.m. Wedding Rehearsal, St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 23rd June
3.00 p.m. Marriage of John Newman and Penny Baxter, St Mary’s, Reed

Sunday 24th June - Trinity 3
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with baptism of Mitchell Winkworth and Junior Church,St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
2.30 p.m. Burma Star service, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 25th June
8.00 p.m. Deanery Synod

Genesis 11.1-9; Acts 2.1-21; John 14.8-17, 25-27

A cat was on patrol one dark night, quietly walking from room to room in his owner’s house, looking for intruders. As he entered the kitchen, he saw a small mouse, in search of food, by one of the cupboards. Immediately, the mouse took off, with the cat in hot pursuit. Through the dining room, through the living room they flew, around the corner and past the stairs. Finally, in the hall, the cat cornered the mouse. 

From his corner, the mouse turned to face the cat and said,” What do you plan to do with me?”

“I’m going to eat you,” said the cat.

“But why?” asked the mouse. “What have I done to you?”

“Because that’s what cats do, I really have no choice in the matter; it’s the way the world has been ordered.”

“Well, do what you must, then, but I can’t watch.”

So, the mouse covered his eyes with his paws, and turned to face the corner. 

Instantly a “woof-woof, woof-woof-woof” was heard, and the cat took off like a shot out of a cannon.

The mouse peeked out to make sure the cat was gone, and then said to no one in particular, “Thank goodness, I’m bilingual.”

Language can unite or divide in many ways. In two of our readings today, we see this in action.

In the Tower of Babel story, language becomes a dividing feature. The Babylonians, desiring to make themselves great, through their own strength, end up being divided, scattered abroad and speaking many different languages so that they cannot understand one another.

And then we see in out reading from Acts, that the Holy Spirit’s work is to unite, and to bring back together those who have been scattered; people who cannot understand one another because they speak different languages. The Holy Spirit enables those of all language to hear of God’s deeds and power, to hear the message of the Gospel.

Sadly the language of the Church today appears to be again something that is dividing peoples. The Holy Spirit enabled the apostles to speak in a language that everyone could understand; in many ways we in the 21st-century Church are speaking a language that those outside do not understand.

There are different types of church language. Some people speak in the language of theology - the language of Bible study, learning, academic institutions, the language that expresses through words what we should know about God. But nobody wants to hear, unless it’s the media focusing on what divides Christians.

Others speak predominantly in the language of spirituality - the language of prayer and worship and liturgy. Again, as numbers in church across the country on a Sunday imply, we are not speaking a language that others understand.

And there is the language of social action - a language where the church speaks through its care of others, through things like speaking out for asylum-seekers, providing for the poor, and so on. It’s a language that improves the lives of many, but a language that sadly seems at times disconnected from Christ himself.

None of these languages are worthless, and all communicate something of God and are important for those who speak them, but somehow they are failing to communicate with the many people outside the church walls.

The Holy Spirit, I believe, is still very much at work in our world today, and longing to communicate with those within and outside the church. But, sadly, many Christians seem all too unaware of the Spirit’s power, and of how it can bring us to life.

I’m reading an interesting book at present by Graham Tomlin called Spiritual Fitness. He highlights how for many people the church is irrelevant. In writing a previous book, he came to the conclusion that there needs to be something that comes before evangelism. That people need to be interested before they hear the Gospel.

If we think about Jesus, the crowds he spoke to on the whole had shown that interest before he spoke - they were following him around or had had interest raised because of what they’d seen him do.

Tomlin writes this:” Several years ago I wrote a book called The Provocative Church. Its basic idea was that the best evangelism happens as the answer to a question. Trying to talk about the Christian faith to someone who is not remotely interested is like trying to get blood out of a stone. It’s a whole lot easier talking to someone who has seen or experienced something that has intrigued him and made hi wonder whether this Christian thing has something in it after all.

“The question is, therefore, how do we provoke the question. How do Christians get people who normally dismiss faith to begin to ask whether there might be a God who takes a real interest in them after all? The answer is the kingdom of God.

“When people experience the reality of the kingdom, life as it was always meant to be, under the strong and gentle rule of God, that is when they begin to experience a longing for something else, something we once knew as a human race.

“And so the church’s first task is not actually evangelism, or just getting the words right, but displaying the life of the kingdom in its own life and community, which in turn will provoke the questions that lead to effective evangelism.”

Tomlin looks at the lengths that people will go to to achieve physical fitness - joining a gym, being disciplined about exercise, making it a priority in their week, working hard to achieve fitness. And he asks how we might similarly achieve spiritual fitness.

Many people assume that faith will just happen, that they don’t really need to put much effort into it. But the Christian virtues, those things that display the kingdom of God don’t just happen within us. The big difference is that unlike physical fitness which is down only to the discipline and hard work of the participant, spiritual fitness relies not only on us, but also on the Holy Spirit, which shapes and hones us, if we give it place.

Those qualities that Christians need to display, if Tomlin is right, all come down to the Holy Spirit. They are things that will grow and develop in us, if we are open to the Spirit’s working within us. But the Spirit doesn’t force its way into our lives; we need to develop an openness to its work through prayer, and the discipline of a spiritual life.

The sort things I’m talking about are clearly laid out for us in Scripture. A good starting-point is the fruit of the Spirit as found in Galatians chapter 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control. If we are open to the Spirit, then these things will grow in us.

Advice from Peter: “you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control and self-control with endurance and endurance with godliness and godliness with mutual affection and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours, they will keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And Paul to Timothy: pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance gentleness.

There are other similar lists. The key to them all is spiritual fitness, our growth and development through the Holy Spirit, which begins with our desire to grow and develop.

The discipline comes in opening our hearts to the Spirit, in inviting it into our lives, in prayer and in community together.

The Bible is very clear that Christianity is not an individual activity but is something we do in community. We have a God who lives in the community of the Trinity - more of the Trinity next week. Christians who grow in faith are those who are open to the working of the Holy Spirit through other Christians as well as directly in themselves.

Our spiritual lives need as much attention as our physical health, but in a busy world, they are often neglected, both by Christians and by those with no faith.

Spirituality is big business these days, but true spiritual growth comes for those who stick at it, not who just choose a bit of this and a bit of that and give up when it no longer gives them a spiritual high.

This is a massive subject and I don’t have time to dwell more on it today. But, if we are to begin speaking in a language that others can understand, we need to do that with the Holy Spirit.

When we do it on our own, as with Babel, we become divided in our language; if we do it in the power of the Holy Spirit, we will be united, and others will hear the message that we seek to share, the message of love, joy, peace, patience, godliness and faithfulness.

Sunday 20th May - Easter 7
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
3.00 p.m. Stewardship Celebration service and cream tea, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 21st May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.00 a.m. Multi-parish Benefice Consultation, Barton-le-Clay
8.00 p.m. Barkway VA School Governors’ Meeting

Tuesday 22nd May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
12 noon Deanery Chapter, The Rectory, Barkway

Wednesday 23rd May
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Council, The Rectory

Thursday 24th May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 25th May
 
Saturday 26th May
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 27th May - Pentecost
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Sunday 3rd June - Trinity Sunday
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with baptism and Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 4th June
7.45 p.m. Barkway VCC, Manor Farm

Thursday 7th June
8.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Church committee meeting, The Old Post Office, Barkway

Sunday 10th June - Trinity 1
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 11th June
7.00 p.m. Church Times study group

Saturday 16th June
11.00 a.m. Baptism of Charlie King, St Mary’s, Reed

Sunday 17th June - Trinity 2
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
2.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Church Open Gardens (until 6.00 p.m.)
5.00 p.m. All-age worship, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 18th June
7.30 p.m. Barley PCC mission sub-group meeting, Willetts, Barley

Wednesday 20th June
8.00 p.m. Deanery Chapter, St Mary’s Aspenden
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Daniel 7.9-14; Acts 1.1-11; Luke 24.44-53

Things are not always what they seem. Appearances can be deceptive.

A security guard worked at a factory. One day he spotted one of the factory workers leaving, pushing a wheelbarrow with a suspicious package in it. The guard stopped the man, opened up the package, only to discover that it contained nothing more than some old bits of rubbish, sawdust and sweepings from the floor.

The following day, he saw the same worker leaving at the end of the day, again with his wheelbarrow containing a package. He knew something was not right, but again, when he opened up the package, there was nothing of value.

This same thing happened every day for two weeks. Finally the guard realised that the worker had got the better of him.

“OK,” he said, “I give up. Tell me what’s going on. I know you’re up to something, but I can’t figure out what it is. If I promise not to have you arrested, please put me out of my misery. Tell me, what is it you’re stealing?”

The worker smiled, looked at the guard and said, “Wheelbarrows, my friend. I’m stealing wheelbarrows.”

The appearance of Jesus on earth was deceptive. He went around as a humble man. He didn’t have a large house or many chariots. He didn’t have lots of servants, though he had a group of 12 loyal men around him, and many other followers, women and men, but he served them - think of the foot-washing episode. He wasn’t rich, was born in an obscure village to a young peasant woman.

But appearances are deceptive, and on Ascension Day we remember a quite different Jesus - we now see Jesus as king.

Our reading this evening from Daniel foretells one like a human being coming with the clouds of heaven, to whom the Ancient One, God, gives dominion, glory and kingship, so that all peoples and nations and languages will serve him. That dominion will be everlasting and his kingship eternal. Jesus himself, in the Gospels, made it clear that he was the one coming on the clouds of heaven.

So we now have revealed to us, the real Jesus. Jesus the king.

And yet, we know that the real Jesus, the Jesus who walked this earth 2000 years ago, was also real. He didn’t unbecome king, when he, in the words of the letter to the Philippians, “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.” What he did was to divest himself of some of his kingly power, not as in many fairy tales when princes become paupers because of the power of an evil stronger than their goodness, but because he chose to.

But now, on Ascension Day, we remember how Jesus took back those powers, how he re-clothed himself with the power and authority given to him by God.

So what is he doing now that he has had his glory restored?

If we look closely at our Bibles, we can pick out three things that his ascension means for us.

First, we need to turn to John 14, and the words that are so often read at funerals: “I go to prepare a place for you, so that where I am, you may be also.” Jesus’s kingship opens up to us the gate of heaven and of everlasting life.

How do we get there? When Thomas asked that question, he was told “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We don’t have to do anything; it’s already been done for us, and that’s one of the great things we celebrate on Ascension Day, that because of Jesus, that gate is now open for us.

Second, Jesus is praying for us. Hebrews 7.25 tells us that “he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them” Jesus prays on our behalf. The first letter of John says these words, which used to be a familiar part of the communion service, “If anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.”

So, although the work of Christ on earth is ended, he still carries on interceding on our behalf.

And, third, the Ascension means that the way is open for the Holy Spirit to dwell among us. Jesus’s words to his disciples from John chapter 16: “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”

Jesus in human form was limited in time and space; the Holy Spirit is not. So the leaving of Jesus unleashes the power of God through the Holy Spirit throughout the world and throughout all ages.

So, in answer to the question, what does the Ascension mean for us, we can offer three responses.

The Ascension means that Jesus has had his glory restored. It means that he is even now preparing our places in heaven, and that before we get there, we are not left alone, but that the Holy Spirit of God is with us, imbuing us with abundant life.

What great things to celebrate this day!

Sunday 13th May - Easter 6
10.30 United Benefice Sung Eucharist with baptism, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 14th May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
7.00 p.m. Church Times study group, Mount House, Barley

Tuesday 15th May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 16th May
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Thursday 17th May - Ascension Day
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 18th May
 
Saturday 19th May
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.00 a.m. Coffee Morning for St Mary’s, Reed, Queenbury, Reed

Sunday 20th May - Easter 7
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
3.00 p.m. Stewardship Celebration service and cream tea, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 21st May
10.00 a.m. Multi-parish Benefice Consultation, Barton-le-Clay
8.00 p.m. Barkway VA School Governors’ Meeting

Tuesday 22nd May
12 noon Deanery Chapter, The Rectory, Barkway

Wednesday 23rd May
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Westfields, Barley

Sunday 27th May - Pentecost
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Sunday 3rd June - Trinity Sunday
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with baptism and Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 4th June
7.45 p.m. Barkway VCC, Manor Farm

Thursday 7th June
8.00 p.m. Friends of Barkway Church committee meeting, The Old Post Office, Barkway

Sunday 10th June
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 11th June
7.00 p.m. Church Times study group

Acts 16.9-15; John 14.23-29

Neither of today’s Bible readings was chosen specifically because we have a baptism in our service this morning. They are the standard lectionary readings, but both are appropriate for today.

The first reading - from the book of Acts - reminds us that baptism is something that goes right back to the first few weeks and months of the Church. In fact, Jesus himself was baptised, and one of the tasks he gave his own disciples was to baptise.

In today’s story, we see Lydia becoming a Christian. She had listened to what Paul had to say about Jesus and decided that she believed him. She was, from now on, going to live her life as a follower of Christ. The sign and symbol that she was going to do this was her baptism.

Baptism is a rite of initiation. It’s something that happens at the beginning. For Lydia it was the beginning of her life as a Christian, a member of the Church.

Primrose is also at a beginning. She is still young. But her situation is obviously different in some ways from that of Lydia. Primrose is too young to decide for herself whether she wishes to be a follower of Christ; that, we hope and pray, is something she will do for herself when she becomes older.

As with Lydia, for Primrose, this baptism is a beginning, which will find some kind of completion on the day when Primrose decides for herself to follow Christ.

Our baptism this morning is a visible, public sign of a deep and wonderful truth.

We will see four different symbolic acts during the service this morning, each of which says something, not mainly about Primrose, but about God’s attitude towards her, and to each one of us.

The first symbol that we will encounter is the signing of Primrose with the cross. The cross acts today as a symbol of all that God has done for us in Christ. All of us, however hard we try, will fall into the trap of sinfulness. We, as humans, can’t avoid that.

There are different kinds of sin - some sins are things we actively do that are wrong. People sometimes get in a muddle about what sin is - they think that only big things like murder or theft count as sins, but that’s not the case. Whenever we do something that is contrary to the ways of God, contrary to the path of love, then that is a sin. Anything that shifts our focus away from loving God - giving God first place in our lives - and other people and putting them before ourselves - is defined as sin.

And a sin is not just something we might do that is wrong. We also sin if we neglect to do something that we should have done - for instance accepting responsibility for things we have done - how easy it is to blame others when we’ve got it wrong - and sin too can be about our attitudes - an angry, hateful or selfish attitude is as much sin as anything else.

But the cross is not predominantly a sign of our sinfulness but of God’s forgiveness. That’s what we celebrate at baptism. That rather than condemning us for our sins, which none us can avoid, God gives us the gift of forgiveness.

And, the water, the second symbol that we will see this morning, is a sign of that forgiveness. That when we do sin and then come to God for forgiveness, it will be as if all the dirt and badness is washed away - think of receiving God’s forgiveness as a bit like bathwater going down a plug-hole. That water has made us clean and then it disappears taking our dirt with it, and we don’t see it again.

God’s community of Christians is open to all people, and that’s why an important part of the baptism ceremony is found in our third symbol - our words of welcome to Primrose. We are saying to her that she is welcome to join us as we follow Christ. The welcome we extend to her is a reflection of the love God has for each of us.

And today’s fourth symbol will be the lighted candle that we will give Primrose at the end of our service, a symbol of Christ’s light and goodness in our world, a light that never goes out, and that will be there for the rest of Primrose’s life, if she wants to follow it.

So four signs - cross, water, welcome and light, each of them telling us something of God’s love and forgiveness.

There’s one more thing that will be important for Primrose on her Christian journey, as it is for every Christian. And we heard a little about it in our Gospel reading. None of us are expected to follow the Christian path alone. Jesus told his disciples that when he went back to heaven after the resurrection, he would not leave them alone, but would give them the Holy Spirit to be with them, and teach them and remind them of all that he had said to them.

That gift of the Holy Spirit is still available for us today, and without it, we cannot live the Christian life to the full. The Holy Spirit is God dwelling alongside us and within us as we follow the path of the Christian journey.  Primrose is at the beginning of that journey today. The end of today’s process will come if and when she decides for herself to follow Christ, but that particular end is also the beginning of another journey.

All Christians who have a living relationship with God grow and develop and change, as they allow God’s love to transform them through the work of the Holy Spirit.

So, as we come to Primrose’s baptism, let us hold before us what it says about God - that God offers us all forgiveness through the work of Christ, that that gift is available to everyone, that Christ’s light will never diminish, and that God is with us on our Christian journey every step of the way in the form of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday 6th May - Easter 5
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said), St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Comunion + Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 7th May

Tuesday 8th May
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway
7.00 p.m. Barley PCC preceded with Holy Communion, The Manor, Barley

Wednesday 9th May
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
7.30 p.m. Barley VC First School Governors’ Meeting

Thursday 10th
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 11th May
 
Saturday 12th May
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
All day  Barkway Street Market
All day  Exploring Prayer Day, Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban

Sunday 13th May - Easter 6
10.30 United Benefice Sung Eucharist with baptism, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 14th May
7.00 p.m. Church Times study group, Mount House, Barley

Wednesday 16th May
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Thursday 17th May - Ascension Day
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion, St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 19th May
10.00 a.m. Coffee Morning for St Mary’s, Reed, Queenbury, Reed

Sunday 20th May - Easter 7
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
3.00 p.m. Stewardship Celebration service and cream tea, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 21st May
10.00 a.m. Multi-parish Benefice Consultation, Barton-le-Clay
8.00 p.m. Barkway VA School Governors’ Meeting

Tuesday 22nd May
12 noon Deanery Chapter, The Rectory, Barkway

Wednesday 23rd May
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, Westfields, Barley

Sunday 27th May - Pentecost
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion + Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Sunday 3rd June - Trinity Sunday
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with baptism and Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 4th June
7.45 p.m. Barkway VCC, Manor Farm

Acts 11.1-18; Revelation 21.1-6; John 13.31-35

The story that we heard in our first reading this morning is so important that it appears in our Bibles twice. The first place is in Acts chapter 10, where we find it told in the third person by Luke, the writer of Acts, who is telling the story of the early Christians for his reader Theophilus.

The second times this story appears is in the form we heard it today - Peter telling his own story. This story is important for the message it puts across. It’s a turning-point in the mission of the early Church. It’s about who’s in and who’s out. And it’s about God’s view of the Church.

Until this point, those early disciples saw the church as the domain of Jewish people. Remember that Jesus himself was, of course, a Jew, and, although Luke’s Gospel is full of the idea that salvation is for everyone not just Jewish people, we have to remember that the Gospels were written a number of years after Jesus’s death, when attitudes had begun to change a bit. We have also to lay Luke’s ideas of universal salvation alongside some of the things that, for instance, Matthew has Jesus saying, such as “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

It was all so clear for them right at the start. The disciples believed that their mission was to carry on the mission of Jesus to the Jewish people. The identity of the Jewish people came from the fact that they were God’s chosen ones, God’s special people. But, then, God let God’s view be known to Peter through the vision that we heard about today.

In an oppressed society, one’s identity was of particular importance. When a people feel threatened, that is often when they become exclusive of others. The response of the Church to Peter’s vision would dictate its future in a big way.

The early Christians have reached a crossroads. One way would take them down a narrow path. If the circumcised believers in Jerusalem who challenged Peter’s mission to the Gentiles had won out, Christianity would have become a Jewish sect, a exclusive sect - as William Barclay puts it in his book on Acts - “We usually do not realise how near Christianity was to becoming only another kind of Judaism.”

I’m sure Cornelius had no idea as he began to pray that day what a profound effect his obedience would have on the Church of the future. Peter’s vision only made sense after his meeting with Cornelius. Initially he had been confused - the vision appeared to have been about clean and unclean food, and during it Peter takes the traditional line - that he must not eat anything which is unclean. But later, he comes to realise that he is being taught, not about God’s attitude towards food, but about God’s attitude towards people.

This is confirmed for him when the Holy Spirit comes upon Cornelius and his household - in the face of God, who is Peter to deny them baptism? At the heart of this vision is such an important message - that God’s grace is offered to all, not just to a group of special people, not just to people of one race or nation or gender or type, but to all people, everywhere.

If we look again at this story, we will see that the Holy Spirit was the active person in this story. It was the power of God through the Holy Spirit that enabled Peter to change his mind - to think outside the box, as we might say in modern parlance. Remember that it was while Peter was praying that he received his vision. When we pray we open ourselves to the work of the Spirit. And, it was the power of God, through the coming of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his household that showed Peter the boundaries the early Church had put in place were human boundaries not God’s.

And, once the Church accepted the presence of Gentiles, there was a process of rethinking. There were clear disagreements - just read some of Paul’s letters to discover this - between those who thought that Gentiles should take on Jewish customs and traditions and those who saw Christianity as something new, not bound by Jewish laws. The initial decision led to a process of learning together.

Often when we widen our boundaries - whether that be boundaries of family or club or school or church - those who are already part of the community face challenges and may feel that their way of life or belief is threatened. But it is often through facing challenge that we grow and develop and the same is true for our faith.

Charles Williamson in a book on Acts has written of one of his African American friends, who said this: “Too many people think that integration means ‘you become like us’. But real integration means that both of us change into something brand new.” This is the challenge that faced the early Church. It’s a challenge that faces us today too. If people are going to be part of our church, do we expect them to become just like us, and to like the same things we do and the same styles of worship, and prayer and talking about God? Or are we willing with them to reach out for a new future together?

The answer to how we do this together and how we face the challenge of the widening boundaries is found in our Gospel reading. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

When we make love our starting-point, we can survive the threats imposed by those who are different from us. Love means that we are willing to let go of the things we hold most dear for the sake of the other. Jesus commanded us to love as he loved - the love of Jesus for us meant even giving up his very life on a cross.

We have a God who gives himself up for us, who gives up that which is most precious - the gift of life - for us, so that through his death we might receive love and life. We are not asked to love alone. Not only do we have the example of Christ himself, we also have the power of the Holy Spirit working in us. We saw earlier how the activity of the Holy Spirit was critical to the Church changing its mind about the inclusion of Gentiles. We too can live in the power of the Spirit and allow it to change us and transform us, to help us where we find it hard to love.

The true character of the dealings of God with people is that of love. None of us is worthy but we become so because we are loved by God. It is that all-encompassing love that we are called to reflect to others. We are called to act as channels for God’s love, to shine as lights in the world.

In the first epistle of John, we read this: “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us” and “in this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us,” and “we love because he first loved us.” Those who are rooted in the love of God need have no fear, for God’s love binds those who are different together. God’s love enabled the early Church to embrace the Gentiles, to accept that they were as much included in the gift of salvation as the Jewish people were.

The gift of salvation is offered to all through the love of God. As we open ourselves more and more to God and God’s love for us, we will be able to share it more easily with others. Love sometimes means letting go of what we hold dear for the sake of the community. Love sometimes means putting aside the boundaries that make us feel safe and extending our welcome to others.

There was division in the early Church about the position of Gentiles, but over time they came to be accepted. There has been division throughout history about who’s in and who’s out. Lay that aside God’s universal love. Reflect on how God’s love is offered to all, regardless of who they are, giving them the choice to accept or reject it.

Let us, the Church, show that kind of love to everyone, and leave the decision of whether to receive or reject that love to those to whom we offer it.