Rev’d Caroline - [email protected], 01285 712467

Readings for Sunday: Acts 7.55-end; 1 Peter 2.2-10; John 14.1-14

“No guilt in life, no fear in death / this is the power of Christ in me.”

This is the first line of the final verse of that great worship song by Stuart Townend, ‘In Christ Alone’. And this is the heart of our readings this Sunday – a ringing reassurance that echoes through our lives – that through Christ’s life and his victory over death, there are no powers that can hold us down. In the beautiful words of Paul in his letter to the Romans:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8.38-39)

We are set free.

This is how Stephen is able to face his death without fear, and indeed, with love in his heart for those who were murdering him.

This is the word of life that Jesus gently reminds his disciples about, as they stand on the threshold of his arrest and death: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”

It is in this freedom and this blessed assurance, that we are able to step up and forward, and begin to be the people God wants us to be. People who can work for good in the world, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom of justice and joy. We are made, in the words of Peter, ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people’. Sometimes I think we can have an inner voice whispering to us that tries to convince us we’re nothing special. “Who are you, to think you might be called by God? What’s so great about you?”

Here we have our answer! Who are we? We are God’s royal priesthood! What’s so great about us? God has shown his endless love for us, and welcomed us into his family! We have the assurance. We have the solid foundations to stand on. And we have a path to walk, and a job to do – to proclaim in our actions and words alike the power of God in our lives.

May your feet be planted firmly on the Way, which leads us to the blessings of eternal life.

Rev’d Caroline

Join us for Morning Prayer via Zoom on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 9am every week. Click below for the week starting 4th May. Join us at the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947692072?pwd=aWVaY5rEvJmAuo15aGcquzfseEQrBM.1

Meeting ID: 899 4769 2072, Passcode: 536306