The Sixth Sunday of Easter - Reflection by Canon Leslie

​Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
 
Today is the Sixth Sunday of Easter. The Easter season, spanning the period from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, celebrates life with the risen Christ. On the Thursday between the Sixth and Seventh Sunday of Easter the Church celebrates the Feast of the Ascension. Today’s Gospel reading prepares for the Ascension by revisiting core teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples in the farewell discourse at the Last Supper as narrated by John. When Jesus is preparing his disciples for their ongoing life in the world after he has been taken from them, he makes two important points.  He calls them his friends and he gives them the commandment to love one another as he has loved them. The group of people whom Jesus leaves behind are to be united as a team bound together in mutual love.
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited you to reflect on the image of teams. In today’s picture, from their book, Exploring the parish church, Rees and Sara are at school, celebrating the team spirit of working and sharing together.
 
Risen Lord Jesus,
you show true love to your people.
Send your Holy Spirit to inspire us,
that we may show true love to you
and to those with whom we live;
for you are our friend and companion,
now and always.
 
Next Sunday, the Seventh Sunday of Easter, and the Sunday following Ascension Day, the Gospel reading focuses attention on the Ascension, seen as Jesus going to his Father and as his enthronement. The image to help us prepare for next Sunday’s theme is royal robes. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
To read Exploring the parish church online, you can follow this link to the book on the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/World%20Faiths%20Today%20series/Storybooks%20World%20Faiths%20Today/Parish%20Church%20story%20English.pdf. For more adventures with Rees and Sara in the World Faiths Today series, check out the relevant page of the St. Mary’s Centre website linked here: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/worldfaithstoday.html.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To stream the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To stream the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos.
 
Rees and Sara send their Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie