Easter 6: connecting with God's love

 John 5: 1-9;  Acts 16: 9-15

I hope there are times when we all get to listen to young people in our lives: members of the family, children who lives near us, families we come across when we’re shopping or out relaxing. Children need adults they can talk to, to help them make sense of life, and especially to help them connect with Christian faith.

 

As it happened I had a more than usually child-focussed week last week.

 

First of all, I had a conversation with a young lad at Lego church at Tiers Cross. We had thought about the ascension of Jesus, and Jesus’ promise to be with his followers always – though in a spiritual rather than a bodily way. The two of us had a go at building a model of a time when we needed to know Jesus with us (building a scene of some people rock-climbing). As we built, my young friend started talking about a talk that he needed to do in school the next week..how nervous he was, and how it felt more scary than rock-climbing.

 

At the end of our Lego session we looked at each other’s models and I said a simple prayer asking for the presence of the living Jesus in every challenge we would each face in the following week.

 

My challenge for the week was the second chance I had to be with children – I was helper at a day for about 200 year 5 and 6 children at St Mary’s, Tenby - run by the archdeaconry of the Church in Wales. There was worship together, a series of workshops on the theme of “peace”, and a very noisy picnic in the grounds.

 

The children were from a number of different primary schools, but were all excited to be out of school for the day. They happily engaged with thinking about things like ‘finding signs that the Holy Spirit is with us’; building a model to show what it means to ‘cast your burden on the Lord’; creating a peace collage; and completing a finger labyrinth.

 

Seeing the enthusiasm and energy of the children that day, I wondered how many of them would be in a church this Sunday – though I hope it was a positive day for them all. How can today’s children be helped to connect their worries and their lives with the Christian faith?

 

When Jesus sees those waiting for healing at the pool by the Sheep Gate he meets a man who is certainly not young – he has been ill for 38 years. When Jesus asks him “do you want to be made well?” he answers that he has no-one to help him reach the water in time to secure his healing in the movement of the water. This man, too, needs help to connect.

 

I was fortunate enough to visit the site of this pool of healing in Jerusalem six years ago.

Because the building level of the city of Jerusalem has changed over the years, you have to climb down now to reach the stone foundations of the pillars that formed the porticoes, but at the bottom of many steps there is still a pool of water.

A group of tourists had gathered around, stood on the edge of the pool – but the water level was a few feet below – just out of reach. We all wanted to touch the water – we wanted to connect with the place where this amazing miracle happened.

 

Fortunately, the small group I was with had just walked down into the city from the mount of olives, and I still had an olive branch I had been given, attached to my rucksack. With the aid of the branch I was able to reach down into the water and then lift it up to drip some water onto the feet and hands of the people gathered around.

It felt like a precious moment of blessing and connection.

 

When Jesus healed the man waiting at the Sheep Pool he didn’t need a branch to reach the water, nor did he decide to help the man win the race to be first in.. he simply said to the man "Stand up, take your mat and walk.".

Jesus was able to channel the healing power of God by his command to walk; just as in other cases he healed with a simple touch, or by a forgiving word.

But for us today, young or old, we might need help to make connection with God’s healing and saving presence in our lives. And we might also find ourselves called to be the channel by which the grace of God can reach and connect with others.

 

In the story we heard from Acts, Paul has been travelling around the Eastern end of the Mediterranean – what we would now know as Israel, Syria, Cyprus and Turkey. Then he has a vision which calls him over to Macedonia – what we could call Greece. There Lydia becomes the first Christian convert in Europe, and immediately she and her household are baptised.

 

Moved by the Holy Spirit, Paul becomes the channel of God’s grace to a whole new part of the world.

And by that same Holy Spirit, Lydia is moved to believe what Paul says about the risen Jesus – and herself becomes a channel of God’s grace for her whole household.

 

Returning to the young people we know, we can be channels of God’s grace to them.

We might be lucky enough to have an opportunity to share a Bible story with them; we might simply show them kindness and care; or even if we only see them walk by in the street, we can pray for them.

 

So I invite you to write the names of young people for whom you want to pray on your post-it note.  If you don’t know their name you could just write a description, -  ‘the boy across the road’, ‘the young woman who is always friendly in the shop’.

 

We will pray for these young people together, that the Holy Spirit might sustain them, the love of Jesus touch them, and the arms of God enfold them.

And we will also pray that we might both receive and convey that care, love and enfolding, too.

In the name of God. Amen.