Sermon for the 12th of May - Seventh Sunday of Easter

What are some of the rules that we regularly do to live a healthy life?
 
Spiritual life is helped by some rules or holy habits.

Worship…. Pattern of prayer – individually or as a community. Attending church.

If we become what we worship, our gods or our idols today are who? Kardashians…. Taylor Swift? Andrew Tate? Do we really want to follow whoever the latest popular person is at the moment?

Our faith gets us to think higher, bigger, more inspiring.

Generosity

We’ve also thought about generosity – giving of money of course, but also time. We believe in a God of abundance. Jesus was constantly giving to others – time, attention, teaching, healing, showing compassion. He gave dignity to outcasts and hope to those in despair. Giving is a spiritual discipline.

Study

Spiritual teachers have said that if we’re not growing, we’re shrinking in the spiritual life.

It’s an encouragement to go deeper in the faith, to study the Bible and other spiritual writers helps us to know God better, nourish our souls, strengthen our faith.

Sundays we hear from the Bible, the sermon helps bring it to life, and to think about what it means for us today.

Rest

This is very important…. Lots of people today work too hard. And with smart phones, we find it difficult to stop.

Encouraged to honour the Sabbath, create time to stop being productive, to enjoy friendships, family and community. A time to rest and renew our souls.

Serving Others

Pour water into vase until it overflows…

Easy to be inward looking. Thinking about ourselves, our family and friends. The Gospel calls us to lift up our eyes and look outwards, towards those who are in need or ignored.

The theological root of this is a Greek word – koinonia – translated fellowship, communion, participation, union.

It’s the same word used for animals which are yoked together and working together as a pair, sharing the burden equally.

We want to be a church that is not only inward-looking, but outward-facing, reaching out to our local community.

Because the pain of one person is the pain of all. If one person is suffering, that affects us all.

When the Jerusalem church was suffering, St Paul took up a collection in Greece to support them – an expression of koinonia, or sharing in their trials.

And what about us as the church, the body of Christ today. What can we do to make a positive impact on people's lives by offering practical help, support, and friendship?

·        Volunteering 

·        Doing something for a good cause 

·        Acts of kindness 

 Are you able to get involved, even in a small way, in serving the community?

 The amazing thing is that it actually benefits us – not that we do it for that. Helping others is good for our mental health. It can reduce stress as well as improve mood, self-esteem and happiness.

Lastly, koinonia is about Holy Communion, participating in the communion Christ offered the disciples in sharing his body and blood during the Last Supper.

And in some mysterious way we can’t understand, we share, we participate, we are drawn into union with Christ as we receive communion.

Five rules of life – worship, generosity, study, rest and service…. Not there to be a burden but an invitation to revitalise our spiritual life, ready to tackle daily challenges, and ready to be loved and to love more fully.