6th Sunday in Easter - John 14: 15-21 - "The Gift of the Holy Spirit"

Happy Easter!  The Lord is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Let us rejoice and be glad for we are a people of great hope.

We are an Easter people – a people of filled with hope and filled with the Holy Spirit.

We are a people always facing east – always toward the rising sun – always toward the dawn of a new and glorious day!

For our God is an awesome God - loving and merciful.

He has given us new life in the resurrection of His Christ, Jesus.  Whose death on the cross expiated our sins and brings us salvation.  In His once-for-all-time sacrifice, He triumphs over sin and death and raises us up to new life – life eternal in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

We are truly a blessed people – a people filled with great hope - dwelling in the promise of Christ’s Resurrection.

We are a people filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son: sent to us as our comfort and guide, our advocate and companion.

Through the Holy Spirit – Christ lives within us and we, in Him.

The Holy Spirit is the breath of the Father and of the Son – the breath of their complete communion of love.

We breathe in their loving Spirit, taking their life-giving breath within us, filling us completely, so we too may be filled with their love.  In their Spirit - we find the love with which we are loved.

The Lord, Jesus has fulfilled his promise - not leaving us orphans, but sending us the Spirit of the Father’s and the Son’s union of love, so we may live in Him, as He lives in us.  For our true life is found only in Jesus.  It is in living His commandments: to love God and one another and through His resurrection, that we find life eternal.  We are claimed as God’s holy people through our belief God’s only Son.

We are a people of great joy!

We are a people of great hope! – Looking toward the kingdom of God and life eternal.

We are a people filled with the Spirit of God’s love!

An Easter people – so completely loved and desired by our Creator that He not only sacrificed His Son to save us, but sends their Holy Spirit of love to shepherd us to the gates of His heavenly kingdom.

Who has a god, like our God?

Let us continue today and everyday - to rejoice and be glad – for the Lord is risen and sends His gift of the Holy Spirit to us - now and forever.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.

Peace

Deacon Don Ron

5th Sunday in Easter - John 14: 1-12 - "Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life"

Happy Easter! The Lord is Risen, Alleluia! Alleluia!

We are a people filled with great joy. 

The Lord has promised to prepare a dwelling place for us in the Father’s kingdom.  Jesus has promised to come for us and return us to the Father’s house where we shall live fully in the love of God for ever and ever.

We are a people filled with great joy. 

We are a chosen race; - a royal priesthood, - a holy nation.  We are God’s own people. 

We are Chosen – (We are) Called out of darkness into His marvelous Light and peace eternal.  We are first among all His creation, stewards of God’s gift of this world – for He has created it and it is good.

We are Royal and Priestly – (For as we are called to be caretakers of this world, we are also) Called to be servants of one another.  Loving one another as we are loved and called to help one another come into right relationship with the Father, through Jesus.  Teaching, guiding and directing one another toward the gate of salvation - where the Good Shepherd gathers His flock.

We are Holy – (As we are called to be stewards the gift of this world and called to love one another as we are loved,) - We are called to worship the Creator.  In gathering together, giving praise and thanksgiving to God, our Father and serving the Church established by the Son, we form community - to live in communion with The Father and the Son through their Holy Spirit.

We are a people filled with great joy.

We have seen the Father in seeing the Son, Jesus. 

We have heard the Father through the voice of Jesus. 

We have witnessed the love of the Father in the love of Jesus, the Christ. 

We have witnessed the works of the Father in the living Christ.  He has shown us that the way to the Father is through He who dwells in the Father, as the Father dwells in Him.

Jesus is the Way. 

He is the path we follow – the means by which we come into intimate relationship with the Father.  He is the Way we return to our true home: in the Father’s eternal embrace.

Jesus is the Truth.

Jesus is the revealed truth of the Kingdom of God, the dwelling place of God’s love for His creations.  He is our savior; rescuing us from the darkness of this sinful world and bringing us into the Light and joy the eternal heavenly kingdom.

Jesus is the Life.

In Him we have Life and have it more abundantly.  He has forever conquered death and eternal darkness.  He has returned us to our rightful place of easy communion with the Father.  Through His death and resurrection of we are restored to new life eternal forever and ever.

In Jesus we are made holy - as we live in Him – for He lives in the Father and the Father in Him.  We are made holy as we believe in Him with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our being; proclaiming to the world, “Jesus is Lord!”

“Today (and everyday) is a day the Lord has made – Let us rejoice and be glad.”  For Jesus, the Christ is Risen – He brings us to life everlasting! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen!

Peace,

Deacon Don Ron