May – Born of God

6 May – John 5:1-6

I have been blessed with an incredible group of friends, varying in ages and situations. I love my friends. Some of these friends came with children some have had them along the way, in this collection of children we have been blessed with a diversity of personalities and issues.  I have grown to love these children because I love their parents. Some children are easy to love, some it has been a journey as I have learnt about disabilities and how that effects children and searched hard to find the treasure in everyone of them. It is not difficult to love them because I have the benefit of the view from their parents.

Everyone who believes in Jesus has been born of God and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. This reading follows on from a long stretch of John speaking on love.  As part of this we are told that if you love God you need to love God’s children as well. This is not always easy, loving God is like loving our cool friends, sometimes it takes a bit of work and understanding to love the children as well.  Who is a child of God that you would like to get to know more?

13 May – Mothers Day/1 John 5:9-13

My eldest child is now 15 and I have a daughter 10, I have been a mother now for 15 years.. Wow time flies!! I remember when I first bought home our little baby, I had no idea what I was doing. I remember the first time catching myself saying the same things that my mother had said to me, I still do it today!

In the Church  there is a lot of thinking and talking about how we speak about our faith. How do we get better at sharing our faith?  I love this reading this week because it reminds us that our story is not OUR testimony but God’s story. We just need to be willing to open our mouths and share what we know about God to whoever asks and God will speak..

The point is like I channel my mum sometimes without even realising it, we channel too the Ultimate Mother, the wisdom of God shared in our lives. What is the echo you have heard of God’s story in your life? when has God shown who God is to you and through you?

20 May – Acts 2:1-21

It’s Pentecost and it reminded me of the Tower of Babel. Both are about language and connecting with God. The tower of Babel was about peoples attempting to use their own strength and power to connect with God, or become God. It did not end well with the tower being destroyed and the different languages separating people. Pentecost is God using that diverse language to reconcile people to each other and God.

In the Church we are blessed with such a diverse community, how often do we see our language and cultures as gifts of restoration and hope? How often do we try to control what we think should happen based on what is native to us rather than allowing the spirit to be our guide.

You might think you do not have language or culture, everybody does.  Culture often shows itself through the way it has always been done. That gift too needs to be offered to the Spirit of God for the work of reconciliation. When we offer a gift we have to let it go and people need to be free to use it as they see fit which is not necessarily how we see fit. I wonder what God is asking you to hand over this week?

27 May – John 3:1-17

The reading today is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible. You have probably seen it at football games. “ For God so loved the world that he gave his Son that whoever believed in him shall not die but have eternal life.” My frustration is that the next line is not included “He was sent not to condemn the world but that it may have life.”

It is easy to forget that this was a quiet word in the middle of the night with a religious leader of the time. What Jesus is saying here is radical. God does not seek to punish or condemn but for all to have life.

However you think Jesus comes to bring life, we can all agree that it is life he brings. It is not even some great mystery about what this looks like we have 4 accounts of his life to model ourselves on , examples of how he brought life to the people in front of Him. If we are his disciples, followers of his way, we too are called to be people of life, people living that life of freedom and people freeing others . I wonder who you will meet this week that needs freedom?

Rev. Karen Mitchell-Lambert, Church Engagement Leader ― Parramatta Nepean Region

For more of Karen’s Lectionary Doodles visit her website