Fifth Sunday of Easter, 2025
What follows is a worship service which, I pray, you can participate in at a time(s) that are convenient to you. This 'service' will take about forty five (45) minutes.
I pray that you will feel called to ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE in this service.
The text that is in regular typeface (that is what you are reading at the moment) is to be read quietly, while the text that is in bold face (like you are reading right now) is meant to be read aloud.
Opening Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we commence our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A Call To Worship:
We meet in the name of God,
Creator of the universe,
source of true humanity,
mother and father of all. Amen.
An Assurance of Forgiveness:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
The Sentence For Today (let us say aloud):
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights.
The Special Prayer For Today (let us pray aloud):
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Our first reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Our second reading for today:
(click the 'play' button below to listen)
Gradual Hymn:
Let us continue by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we raise out voices in praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
A reading from the holy gospel according to Saint John.
Listen to David speak to this gospel
or, if you prefer, you can read the sermon, below:
Sermon for Easter 5, 18th May 2025
Welcome friends and peace be with you.
MAY the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. <Amen>
“I am with you only a little longer.” “You will look for me;” “Where I am going, you cannot come.” <PAUSE>
Ponder these immensely sad words. The people are being told that the one they have been following is going to be leaving.
The stage has been set. No going back now. This isn’t going to end well. To paraphrase, it won’t be much longer until I’m gone. <PAUSE>
My mum died in 1991. Tomorrow is her birthday - she would have been one hundred and twenty six. Here are the words my mum said to me in the end stages of terminal cancer, “My son, I have to go, and you have to stay.”
So it was for the disciples. Jesus is leaving them and they haven’t a clue about what to do. Their Messiah, the one they’ve waited for to change the world, is leaving and yet nothing seems to have changed at all. The Romans are still in charge, the Jews are still oppressed. This Messiah whom they’ve waited for to lead them into battle, to bring down the Empire, has no sword to wield and will soon tell others to put away their swords too.
Everything is unraveling. It is getting messy. Judas has run out on the group, and NOW Jesus is saying He will soon be leaving them too.
But it is at this very point, when everything seems to be falling apart, that Jesus gives them his farewell speech. Jesus gives the remaining disciples everything they need to know to hold themselves together. when He is gone.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love on another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Like the disciples, like me when I lost my mum, we often seem to be standing in a world that is coming apart at the seams. Today, people put up barriers (and dare I say “tariffs”?) to isolate themselves from ones they say are alien. Disasters, natural and human-made, of all kinds seem to be taking the lives of people young and old from all over the world – war in Ukraine, war in the Holy Land, gun violence in the The U.S., oppression in Afghanistan and around the world - the list could go on.
All the while countless others are facing their own personal disasters of losing their job, watching the fire fade from their marriage, mourning lost loved ones. <PAUSE>
Yet, in the midst of an unraveling world, Jesus offers us a new picture, “I give you this new commandment to love one another as I have loved you. <PAUSE>
WHEN WILL humanity hear these words?
WHEN WILL humanity understand that if we do this, God WILL make a home in our hearts.
WHEN WILL humanity grasp the fact that “Divine Love” was placed in our hearts the moment God breathed life into us. <PAUSE>
We can no more remove God from where God has decided to be than we can remove our own beating heart from our body.
God HAS made a home in all of us and Jesus is simply trying to convince us that it is safe to unlock the door and let that love of God out.
Remember the words of Jesus, “I am the light of the world” and “I am coming to make a home in you.” This means:
WE are now the bearers of that Christ light.
WE ARE the love TO the world, and shine the Christ light into it.
Thanks be to God that the tomb is still empty, and Jesus is calling us, shepherding us ….. to love one another.
Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed! Alleluia. AMEN.
I runga e te Ingoa o te Atua, te Matua, te Tama me te Wairua Tapu.
In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit <AMEN>
Pause and Reflect
Just take a moment now to pause. Bow your head, close your eyes.
Allow these words of Holy Scripture and this interpretation of them today to speak to you.
An Affirmation of Our Faith
Let us affirm our faith by saying aloud, and together, "The Apostles Creed":
... and now let us pray for the Church, the World, and Ourselves, giving thanks for God's goodness.
Let us pray aloud, and together:
Holy God, we come before You with thanksgiving for all Your mercy and grace and we give thanks for the beauty and wonder of the world around us as we bring to You our prayers of intercession and thanksgiving.
<longer silence for personal reflection>
Almighty God, we pray today for Your blessing to be upon our FaithaLight community wherever we may be. May Your presence be seen vividly in all that we do and say each day. We pray that Your joy and Your love will flow freely in and through us and be shown to the world.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Creator God, Saint John gave us a vision of a new heaven and a new earth. We pray for those parts of the world which badly need renewal. Inspire and instruct our world leaders to constantly work for that day when all the world’s peoples may enjoy security, peace and a decent standard of living.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Faithful God, Your son Jesus said “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Here and now, we testify to God’s love shown perfectly in Christ and we re-commit ourselves to love one another as a worldwide community of faith.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
Gracious God, in Your great mercy comfort and relieve those who are sick, injured, aged or distressed and according to their needs, enable them to draw strength from You and know that You are with them in all their troubles.
Give the song of joy to all who are now on the road to recovery and recuperation and the song of thanks to all who helped them on that road.
We especially raise before You now all those who have asked for our prayers from around the world … those we know in New Zealand, in Singapore, in Argentina, in France, in Australia, in the US, in Canada, in Austria, in Ukraine, in China, in Germany, in the Czech Republic, and any others we now name aloud, or in the silence of our hearts, and those who are known only by You.
<short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer Loving God, we pray for those, saddened by the death of a loved one, for members of our families who have died and whose anniversary we recall. Help us to draw comfort from the Holy Spirit, the fellowship of our sisters and brothers in Christ, and the support of our family and friends.
We pray for all the faithful departed, may they now rest in eternal peace as they most surely have risen in glory.
<Short silence> Lord, in your Mercy: Hear our Prayer
In a moment of silence we pray for ourselves, our families, friends, for all whom we love and for our personal ministries.
Make us worthy of the sacrifice and resurrection of Your Son.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Heavenly Father, be our refuge, Good Shepherd, support us by Your grace through all the hours of life’s day: until the shadows lengthen, the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and the evening comes. Then Lord, in Your mercy: grant us a safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Short Silence) Lord, in Your mercy: hear our prayer
Forth in the peace of Christ we go; Christ to the world with joy we bring; Christ in our minds, Christ on our lips, Christ in our hearts, the world’s true King.
Merciful father: accept these prayers for the sake of Your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN.
Remembering that we are confident to pray this day, and every day, because Jesus Christ continues to teach us:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Let us conclude our prayers by praying together and aloud:
God of mercy,
you have given us grace to pray with one heart and one voice,
and have promised to hear the prayers
of two or three who agree in your name,
fulfil now, we pray,
the prayers and longings of your people
as may be best for us and for your kingdom.
Grant us in this world to know your truth,
and in the world to come to see your glory. Amen.
The Blessing
May The Risen Lord Christ turn His face towards each and every one of you.
May He cause His light to shine upon you, and
may He grant you His peace, and
The blessing of Almighty God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
be with you and all of those whom you love,
on this day and forever more.
A Closing Hymn:
Let us conclude our worship today by watching, and please do feel free to sing or read aloud the lyrics, as we unite in another hymn our praise and thanksgiving.
When you are ready - click the "play" button on the video window, below:
The Dismissal
Go now, go out into the world
to love and serve The Lord.
Go in peace.
AMEN, we go in the name of Christ.
