The Lord’s Table
Penwith Deanery Readers/Lay Ministers’ Newsletter
Issue 3
I am delighted to share with you Chris Kingshott’s devotional article for Lent. Thanks Chris for sharing this with us! John Wallis- Penwith Deanery Chaplain to Readers.
Endings and beginnings
Like so many, particularly at this time, my prayers centre on peace. And, with peace, there is also a great need of prayer for the folk who are grieving. There is a `call` to pray for all those poor souls who have lost loved ones. There are so many – thousands of families torn apart by this war in the Ukraine.
With all the constant horrors in the news it could be easy to lose sight of the fact that we are now in the season of Lent. And yet, as we look ahead to the Cross, we may well sense the impending loss of the disciples as their lives will soon be torn apart.
In John chapter 6 we are given a picture of many people turning away from Jesus. His message has become too uncomfortable for them, and maybe some have got the point that `this man` is not a warrior king at all – that he is not going to lead an army to defeat their oppressors.
But, for the disciples, there is a sadness in the air. This new life that they have discovered with Jesus, is coming to an end. And Jesus asks them, `Are you not going, too?` To which Peter replied, `Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We know and believe that you are the Holy One of God.`
Certainly, Peter would have been lost had it all come to an end. In a short while that is what happened – at least, that is how it felt at the time of the Crucifixion.
The end. There must have been immeasurable grief for those who loved Jesus. And they must have felt lost, as the centre of their life had been cruelly taken away.
Fortunately, as we know, that was not the end. And within a few hours, Jesus was back with them in His resurrection appearances.
Can we truly imagine the joy for those who loved Him? Amazing joy! Behind closed doors there must have been singing and dancing and laughing …
It is my fervent prayer that, one day, those that grieve because of the horrific atrocities in Ukraine, may find peace and security, and, hopefully, a reason to smile, even if singing, dancing and laughing is too much to hope for.
CK 15/5/22
107 CV Thought for the Day – the Third Sunday of Lent by Didymus
Evensong readings: Genesis Ch.28, vv10-19a, Gospel: John Ch.1, vv35-end
The Gospel this week is the brief account that John gave us of the gathering of the first Disciples. John the Baptist greeted Jesus as The Lamb of God, and he sent two of his Disciples to follow him. One was Andrew, one of the fishermen and brother to Peter. I suspect that the other was Philip, who was quite possibly another fisherman
Having drawn the five to his mission, Jesus moved on. Philip was keen for Jesus to meet his friend, Nathaniel, and ran to meet him. The story of Nathaniel’s acid reply to Philip is famous.
Jesus, still some way off, noticed that Nathaniel had been sitting under a tree, reading. At that time of day, the man of the house would take his drink and read scripture. So Jesus, greeting him warmly, guessed that here was a devout man. It was then Nathaniel’s turn to be astonished. His name was Nathaniel bar-Tamai (the son of Talmai), which, over time, became Bartholomew.
There are times when I wonder at the Christian faith, as protested by the Church. It does seem terribly complicated at times, with the serried ranks of people in the church, their titles and traditions. Our Lord didn’t see things that way. In reply to a questioner he said “Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself”. No messing about with the Ten Commandments and their understandable negativity. Jesus’ commandments were simple and above all, positive. They engender hope, and do not load us with guilt and hopelessness.
As I have suggested that in Lent we should read sections of the Gospel of John, let us now read and contemplate the sixth chapter of his Gospel. It is one of the most important in the NT. Our understanding is not facilitated by the authors of the Lectionary spreading it, bit by bit, over July and August. It is an irritating habit and suggests a complete disregard for the matter being taught. (Grumble over? – Ed). Digression over, now to John Ch.6.
It is long, starting with the Feeding of the 5,000. The fairly brief reference to the Walking on the Water, one of John’s seven signs of Jesus’ divinity, seems to be interposed between two related narratives. It is the second which we are concerned with. In a long and fascinating debate, Jesus makes clear some misunderstandings and emphasises how important is his teaching and his spirit. He moved into metaphor to explain how a believer must “consume” his teaching and his spirit. The Jews attached a vital significance to blood: to them it was life. Jesus’ use of metaphor was offensive to a devout Jew, and clearly it puzzled the Disciples.
One of the most simple and straightforward parables, arguably the most important, is in John’s Ch.15. It takes the teaching of the sixth chapter, and distils it into a simple parable. The parable of the True Vine is worth reading, and mulling over its relevance to our lives. It exemplifies the Covenant between Jesus and us, and its importance in our lives.
Do read both John ch.6 and ch.15, enjoy them, think about them, and live by them.
Remember, among the many things we pray for, are our loved ones and especially those suffering from the Covid virus, together with June Lennox, John Drayson, Tony and Shena Davies, and any others known personally to us.
We must continue to pray for all affected by the war in Ukraine, and not to forget the Russian people, virtually imprisoned in their own country, many of whom have yet to learn of the loss of their loved ones.
AMEN
NB:
The pictures are of Philip and Jesus, about to meet Nathaniel, and of Jesus teaching the crowd at Capernaum that he was “the bread of the World”.
The Lectionary is the book which sets the readings for each service, each day of the church year
AMEN