Faith Daily | 24 May 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p 514

Eternal God,

whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life:

grant that we may walk in his way,

rejoice in his truth,

and share his risen life;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Prayer of the week until Ascension

Grant, we pray, almighty God,

that as we believe your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

to have ascended into the heavens,

so we may also in heart and mind thither ascend,

and with him continually dwell;

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: John 16: 5-11

Jesus told them “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Rachel McFadyen

Today, the Anglican church in Australia (APBA p. 457) remembers John and Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism and of a profound revival in the Church of England in the 18th century. They were two of 19 children, 10 of whom died in infancy, who were educated in their faith by their remarkable mother Susannah Wesley. The Church of England in the early 18th century was in a deep depression, the crown and aristocracy living lives filled with gambling, sex, duelling, and violence; parish clergy largely neglecting their parishes, and a total neglect of people living in the industrial cities springing up around the country. The Wesleys and others changed all this, leading not just to the formation of the Methodist Church but to revival in the Church of England, through the Evangelical movement followed by the Oxford movement.

In the gospel passage above, Jesus promised his followers that he would send “the Helper”, the Holy Spirit, also called “the Comforter.” It was the Holy Spirit that called and sent out the two Wesley brothers, and through them brought help and comfort to the thousands of Christians throughout England and north America, who had been left “comfortless” by the laziness and corruption of the established church of the time. And it is the Holy Spirit who will inspire and comfort us now, as we face a troubled and uncertain future, in this country and in the world around us.

Two Sundays from now, we celebrate Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the patronal festival of this church. So we pray in the words of the prayer for the day of Pentecost:

FINAL PRAYER

O God, who taught the hearts of your faithful people

by sending them the light of your Holy Spirit:

grant us by the same Spirit

to have a right judgement in all things,

and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;

through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,

who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the same Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen