Today we read from the letter of 1 John and the pel of John. In the first letter, John makes the simplest of all statements: “God is love.” He reminds his readers that we are called to remain in love, just as Jesus has been calling his disciples to do during the last few Sunday Gospel readings. The theme continues: we are to remain in Jesus, Jesus remains in us, and Jesus remains in the Father. Some translations use the word “abide” instead of remain, but the meaning is the same. We are to stay centred and grounded in Jesus who is love because God is love.  How do we know if we are remaining or abiding in Jesus? All we have to do is honestly ask ourselves, “Are we speaking, acting, and living with love?” If so, then we are following Jesus’ supreme command to love one another. If our word or actions are not loving, then we are not living in God. Jesus knew that it is difficult to always choose love because we live in a world where sin is a reality. There is darkness and evil, and Jesus acknowledges that. In his prayer in the Gospel today, he doesn’t ask that God take us out of this world. The point isn’t to have things made easy for us, but for God to give us what we need to be in this world without being “of the world.” It is yet another call to remain and rest in God, not in the things of this world. Jesus sends us out into the world so that we can transform it with love, not so that it will transform us. Questions of the Week  Do you know anyone who is not a Catholic or a Christian but still behaves as a follower of Jesus would because he/she is rooted in love? How do you see God at work in that person?  Have you ever had the experience of feeling that you are in this world yet not of this world? How so?

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very busy week around The Presbytery as all sorts of projects begin to come to realisation . . . . . On Monday evening Fr D had a phone call from a contractor who is dealing with the refurbishment of the church toilet saying that he wanted to come early on Tuesday morning to strip out the old tiling and sanitary ware. Fr D was not expecting this to happen so soon so was delighted that this was happening. He also rang his godson to discuss new sanitary ware (with the appropriate discount!) for the project. Before Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning (08.00) the workmen were ripping out the said tiles and removing the units. Whilst the workmen were in the church the order for the new shower unit to replace the failed one in the Presbytery was made (the old one had been fitted very early on in Canon Tony Clarke’s time as parish priest, so it didn’t owe us anything!). Fr D also went off in the car to celebrate two ‘House Blessings’ in the Parish. In the evening Fr D met with the parents of this year’s First Eucharist group teaching them about the part of the Mass that we call the Eucharistic Prayer - they will then be teaching their children about it on Saturday morning. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Wednesday the IT engineer was back to continue the install of the telecom/IT system which will reduce the number of business telephone accounts that are presently in use (saving £1,200 a year!). One of the ‘side benefits’ of the new install is that WiFi will now be available throughout the Parish Centre instead of just the Parish Office. Thursday was, of course, the Holy Day of the Ascension and after celebrating Morning Prayer and Mass in the morning Fr D met with the IT engineer once more as he continued with the install. By the end of the morning the wiring and equipment side of things was complete and it will now be left for a fortnight to let the broadband settle down before deleting one account and going with a new provider for the other.  Morning Prayer and Mass on Friday were followed with Fr D finishing off his parts of the newsletter ready for Sarah to complete. Sadly part of the newsletter was having to make some points about behaviour at our Masses; mobile phones, getting to Mass on time and not leaving straight after receiving Holy Communion . . . . .

After Jesus rose from the dead, he “presented himself alive” (Acts 1:3) to the women near the tomb (Matt. 28:9-10), to his disciples (Luke 24:36-43), and to more than 500 others (1 Cor. 15:6). In the days following his resurrection, Jesus taught his disciples about the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). Forty days after the resurrection, Jesus and his disciples went to Mount Olivet, near Jerusalem. There, Jesus promised his followers that they would soon receive the Holy Spirit, and he instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit had come. Then Jesus blessed them, and as he gave the blessing, he began to ascend into heaven. The account of Jesus’ ascension is found in Luke 24:50-51 and Acts 1:9 -11.  It is plain from Scripture that Jesus’ ascension was a literal, bodily return to heaven. He rose from the ground gradually and visibly, observed by many intent onlookers. As the disciples strained to catch a last glimpse of Jesus, a cloud hid him from their view, and two angels appeared and promised Christ’s return “in just the same way that you have watched Him go” (Acts 1:11).

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A very busy week around The Presbytery this time round . . . . At our Sunday 11.00 Mass last weekend we were joined by this year’s Confirmation Candidates, their families, and their sponsors as they celebrated a Lucenarium (Service of Light) before being sent off by the community to celebrate their Confirmation with Bishop Richard this Saturday. During the service the candidate’s parents lit the Baptismal Candle they were presented with on the day of their child’s Baptism and solemnly handed it over to their child as a sign that they are now considered adults in the Church and are responsible for themselves for keeping the flame of faith alive in their hearts. After celebrating Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition on Tuesday morning Fr D had several specialist engineers coming in: - the electrician was around to replace a failed ‘Fire Exit’ sign in the main hall of the Parish Centre, check on a failing fire escape ceiling light in the back corridor of the Centre, confirm the death of a tea urn in the Centre kitchen, and finally, to connect-up a ‘penny heater’ for the airing cupboard in the Presbytery - the LiveStream engineer came up (from Cardiff) to re-instate the set-up after some sort of an energy spike caused a failure two weeks ago; whilst here he serviced the security alarm in the Presbytery and replaced a camera on the church CCTV system that had failed. - By the time that all the workmen had departed in the middle of the afternoon Fr D was quite exhausted! Wednesday, after Morning Prayer and Mass, Fr D needed to make a start on the newsletter as he was losing both Friday and Saturday with events involving the bishop, so would not have the time he usually has. In the afternoon Fr D and a workman were sorting out which replacement shower he needed for his bathroom the old one that Canon Tony Clarke had put in having ‘given up the ghost’ last week (Fr D has been dashing across the landing to the guest bathroom since it failed!), Between them they worked out what the new version was and are now looking for a supplier before fitting it.  After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D was down in Crawley, working on his marriage cases. When he came back he was meeting with a family whose child will be baptised later in May . . . . . .

This week, we hear a Gospel reading with Jesus’ invitation to “remain in my love” and to “love one another as I love you.” He doesn’t spell out endless rules (“Do this.” “Don’t do that.”) which we need to memorize and follow in order to do what is right. Instead, his invitation is simply to focus on remaining connected to him (“remain in me”) and letting all of our actions flow from a commitment to loving others as he loved us. It is an invitation for a mature follower. Just as we need to spell out many simple rules to help younger children understand right from wrong, with “younger” disciples more rules or “commandments” are helpful. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Pray for your enemies. Forgive those who have hurt you. There is nothing wrong with following a list of religious commandments as we learn how to be faithful disciples. At a certain point, though, our faith needs to mature to take into account more complex situations - the grey areas between the black-and-white, or simple right and wrong. Jesus is asking us to go beyond what the rules say and commands us to respond in love to everyone, just as he did.  Jesus gives us a lot of respect here, insisting that we are his friends, not his students, his servants, or his slaves, when we love one another as he does. Often Christians fall into the habit of relating to God or Jesus as a child to a parent, but Jesus suggests a more equal relationship. God will always be God, and we will always be human, but Jesus still invites us to be in friendship with him. Questions of the week  Think of a situation in which the difference between right and wrong might be blurred but you are asked to respond with love rather than holding strictly to what a law or commandment says. How does it challenge you to be more Christ-like?  Have you ever thought of yourself as being friends with Jesus? How so? If not, what is your reaction to this invitation?

Children’s Liturgy is a structured time during Mass at which children (typically aged 4-7), are invited to gather separately from our main congregation to hear and reflect upon the weekly scripture readings at a language and comprehension level that is suitable for their age group. In order to consider restarting this in the Parish we are seeking to establish a team of at least 8 (preferably more) parishioners who would be interested in serving the children in our Parish, and who would be able to commit to leading/helping in a team of two/three, after training, during school term time, on a rota basis, during the first part of our 11.00 Sunday Mass.  All leaders/helpers will need to have/obtain an enhanced DBS certificate that we can arrange through the Diocese. Please contact the Parish Office if you could assist in joining this venture for our children.

We know nothing of St James except his name, and, of course, the fact that Jesus chose him to be one of the 12 pillars of the New Israel, his Church. He is not the James of Acts, son of Clopas, “brother” of Jesus and later bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. This James, son of Alphaeus, is also known as James the Lesser to avoid confusing him with James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. Philip came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. Jesus called him directly, whereupon he sought out Nathanael and told him of the “one about whom Moses wrote.” Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time in coming to realize who Jesus was. On one occasion, when Jesus saw the great multitude following him and wanted to give them food, he asked Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat? St John comments, “[Jesus] said this to test him, because he himself knew what he was going to do.” John’s story is not a put-down of Philip. It was simply necessary for these men who were to be the foundation stones of the Church to see humanity’s total helplessness apart from God and the human ability to be a bearer of divine power by God’s gift.  On another occasion, Philip said, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Enough! Jesus answered, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

The musings of one of God’s smallest creatures on events in and around the Parish over the past seven days . . . . A ‘full-on’ time around The Presbytery this week as Confirmation, First Eucharist, and Baptism programmes are all coming to a ‘high point.’ On Monday Sarah & Fr D were chasing the engineers for our LiveStream service on the Parish Website to get things back to working order. Sarah was sent chasing all around the system machinery to see if it would ‘re-boot’ in some fashion but all to no avail. The conclusion is that the engineers will have to visit (Fr D thinks that one of the machines has died!). Tuesday morning after Morning Prayer, Mass, and Exposition Fr D was following the activities of the engineers who were running an optical cable between the Presbytery and the Parish Office ready for ‘the great telephone switchover’ which will get rid of one of the present telephone accounts (which will be a saving of £1,200 a year!). An extra benefit is that we will now have wifi access points in each of our upstairs meeting rooms and the main hall (one step closer to being able to renew the audio visual set-up in the hall). The engineers will be back next Wednesday to complete the new wiring. We also discovered a fire detector in the loft of the Parish Centre which we didn’t know existed! In the evening Fr D met with the Parish Finance Committee for one of their quarterly meetings. On Wednesday evening Fr D met with our Confirmation Candidates for their last ‘input session’ before the Confirmation ceremony with the Bishop at St Joseph’s Church, Epsom next Saturday morning. Fr D was also able to give the group the final instructions concerning the celebration which he had just received from the co-ordinator. After Morning Prayer and Mass on Thursday Fr D went off in the car to the diocesan offices as usual, but this time (for the first time in ages) went there using the motorway. This meant that he was able to see exactly what the new car could do! When he got to his Tribunal office there were several Decrees for cases that required his signature. There was also a little celebration given by the Tribunal Secretary to mark her six months in the position (lots of Polish food)! In the evening Fr D was to have had the second session of the present Infant Baptism Course but one of the parents had gone down with food poisoning so the session was moved to the following week.  Once Morning Prayer and Mass had been celebrated on Friday morning Fr D completed his bits of this week’s newsletter . . . . . . . .

We hear often from John’s Gospel during the Easter season, and Jesus’ message to us includes many invitations to abide, rest, and remain in him. The other Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke have Jesus giving us many directions for the actions we should be taking as his followers: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, love your enemies, forgive others repeatedly, turn the other cheek, etc. They are Gospels for “human doings.” John’s Gospel, on the other hand, is a Gospel for “human beings.” In John, Jesus repeatedly invites his followers to express their discipleship by how they carry themselves-how they are in the world, not what they do in the world. How are we to be in the world? Like a branch on a grape vine, Jesus says. The branch doesn’t do anything to make the grapes; it simply remains connected to the vine and allows itself to be pruned. If the branch stays connected, all it has to do in order to bear fruit is to be open while God works the miracle of creating the grapes.  Jesus is calling us to trust that if we do our primary “work” of remaining in him and allowing him to remain in us, then God’s works will automatically flow through us. If we can be human beings first, then our “doings” will be natural outcomes of that. The invitation for us is to relax into that sense of being and abiding with Jesus. Questions of the week • Which do you more naturally gravitate toward in your sense of discipleship: “doing” things or “being” a particular way? Put another way, are you naturally more active or contemplative? • When you consider abiding with/ remaining with/resting in Jesus, what comes to mind for you? How might you build more time for that into your life?