Sunday 3rd May Easter 4
This Sunday and for the next two Sundays, our gospel passages are taken from John, and the focus shifts. The emphasis today is on teaching he gave earlier in his ministry, which they can only understand now, after his death. Jan has reflected on the gospel passage, on hearing the voice of the shepherd even in our isolation.
The first reading contains the verse that sums up what the very first Christians did, how they lived out their new faith. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. These four elements could be taken wholesale into our Christian life in the 21st century: teaching – discovering more about the faith; fellowship – building relationships of trust and openness with each other and reaching out to others; breaking of bread – both literally, in hospitality and figuratively in Eucharist; prayers – offering ourselves to God in humble devotion. When we come together again shall we model our corporate life on the four?
Alleluia, Christ is risen – He is risen indeed, alleluia