Tag: John

Trinity 12: I am the Living Bread

18/8/24
Trinity 12


Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58

This is Sunday four of five in John 6! Jesus is continuing to turn up the heat as he pushes the crowd and the Jews in their thinking and believing. One of the many golden threads running through this chapter are the words very truly and believe. Jesus was telling them and continues to tell us to very truly believe in Him.

How many of you this morning, before you sat down in a pew asked, ‘can I trust this pew not to collapse under my body weight?’ Or when you went to turn on the bathroom tap wondered if you could trust the water that was coming out of it?

I am not sure how you go to come to believe in people or things, let alone God. What is your process? I am naturally and rather naively a trusting person. I tend to trust people from the start. It does not take much to win my trust and I will take what I see at face value. I trust the water that comes out of the tap will be perfectly fine to drink. I did think about the engineering and craftsmanship of the pews and trusted in them but only asked myself this because I knew that I would be asking you!

We all have our own ways of coming to trust things and people. Maybe some of us trust the wrong things or do not consider the things we trust until they prove themselves to be untrustworthy. Maybe some of us set the bar so high that we trust almost nothing and no one.

The theme for this morning is to look at the implications of putting our trust in Jesus, the bread of life. I have just had us think about how we trust in people and things. It is likely that these processes can and will influence how we trust Jesus. If you are a trust-first-ask-questions-later-type like me, you might find it easy to trust Jesus. If you are a slow-truster, what proof do you need to be satisfied that Jesus is trustworthy?

There could be a lot of ways to get us to do that however Jesus announces that people need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus intended to shock his audience. This reference to flesh and blood as food would have been particularly startling to the Jewish culture Jesus was speaking into. Jesus’ eating habits were causing comment and criticism at the time as he was seen as a glutton and drunkard who dined in bad company.

The Jewish people were particularly sensitive to food issues. A glance in the Old Testament shows us the vast number of rituals and taboos surrounding food preparation and what could and could not be eaten.

God has always used food to tell his story: the apple in the story of creation, manna and quail in the desert of Exodus, the Passover meal of lamb and unleavened bread. In the New Testament the stories of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish is told 6 times in the 4 Gospels. Jesus eating the grain on the Sabbath. The bread and wine of the Last Supper. All these stories have food at the heart of them.

Jesus is saying that he is the bread of life, his body and blood are the true food that we all need.

What then are the implications for feeding on the body and blood of Jesus?

The Ephesians reading gives us three ways that trusting in and feeding on Jesus will benefit our lives.

Firstly: Wisdom. This is a whole other sermon on its own. It is different from knowledge, which is facts and figures, the things we get from education. Wisdom is deeper than that; it is a knowing that comes from experience and circumstance, wisdom is common sense that is not so common.

Ephesians tells us that we are to live not as unwise but as wise people (v. 15) and this means being careful in how we live. I don’t know about you but I have never prayed to the effect ‘Dear Lord, I would like to do more stupid things. Please help me do this. Amen.’

You don’t need to be smart to ask for wisdom. We all face situations where we need more wisdom than what we currently have to make the right or best decision. Pray for it!

Secondly, by trusting Jesus we can better understand God’s will for our lives (v. 17). We will never fully understand what we are doing on earth apart from God’s plans and purposes. If we want to know what we are supposed to do then we need to be close to Jesus, feeding and following him. Notice the second plea to avoid foolishness. ‘So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.

To avoid foolishness and understand God’s will for our lives we need wisdom. Wisdom comes from trust. Trust comes from feeding on the body and blood of Jesus.

How are you doing on working out God’s will? Not always easy but try to see it as a journey. Maybe a slow one at times but it is not a race. But know that God loves you and has a will for your life. He is not hiding it or keeping it from you but it is something that needs to be worked out.

Thirdly, trusting in Jesus helps us in being thankful and filled with the Spirit. Verse 20 ‘always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Always and everything.

A Bible study in a previous parish included a ‘thankfulness exercise’ where we divided our current age by four. In each quarter of our lives, we had to write down the things/events/people that we were thankful for. It was quite an enlightening exercise. I had much more to be thankful for as I thought through each of my quarters. This might be helpful if you find yourself struggling to be thankful to God.

Sometimes it is hard to be thankful when we are facing difficulties and there does not seem to be much to say thanks for. Do not forget the small things! Being thankful for the small things can only help us to be thankful for the big things. It also creates consistency in us.

Try to avoid letting the troubles in the present wipe your memory of the good things in the past. God is faithful and has done things we should all be thankful for regardless of our current situation. He can be trusted.

If we live in the Spirit, we will never be over or under fed. The body and blood of Jesus will always satisfy every need we can ever have. Feeding on Jesus is our only hope. What the world offers us is not real food as it will not satisfy – however much we eat.

When we give thanks to God we are building trust in Him that he will provide all that we need. In the big and the small stuff. We generally thank people if we have enjoyed a meal together. Jesus has given us the ultimate meal; one that we will all share very shortly. We come together as His family to share in the meal so let us be trusting, wise, understanding and thankful.

Trinity 11: The Bread of Unity


11/8/24
Trinity 11

Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51

Throughout the month of August we are stuck into John chapter 6 which begins with the feeding of the 5000 on a mountainside in Galilee. This crowd witnessed the miracles Jesus had been performing. They began to follow him and the disciples around with curiosity and in hope of another free lunch after Jesus met the physical hunger of the crowd in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

Next, Jesus walked on the water through a storm in the dark of night to the fear and amazement of the disciples. There is no mention whether the storm stopped or not; what seems to matter is that the disciples’ fear was dissipated when Jesus reached them. One of the beautiful things about the Christian faith is the amount of creativity and imagination it requires of its followers.

The next day, the hungry crowd is back for more fish sarnies but none are on the menu. Jesus tells them not to work that food that will perish but the food that endures for eternal life. The heart-breaking and beautiful proclamation of ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whosoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ follows. This is where we start this morning.

At each turn throughout John 6, Jesus is ratcheting up what is at stake. He is making it clear he is not just a miracle sandwich-maker or a favourite history teacher as he corrects the beliefs of Jewish people listening to and arguing with him. Jesus is reminding them the bread that came down from heaven after they crossed the Red Sea was given to their ancestors came from God; Moses was only the means of delivery. This would have been difficult for the Jews to hear. Their beliefs were firmly held, rules were rules and needed to be followed.

We are living in a world right now, in a country right now where people are hearing things they do not like and reacting. Firmly held beliefs, however right or wrong, or extreme to either end are being challenged. It feels very unsettling and knocks our security. Riots over immigration, Facebook posts decrying the cut to the winter heating credit for pensioners. I am a Canadian so will not comment on the US election. Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Gaza. This is a sad state of affairs.

What can be done? Imagine for a moment that we took Paul’s instructions in the letter to the Ephesians. Paul is instructing the churches to focus on God and for the new believers in Jesus to to live in the light of Christ with specific moral commitment, to conduct relationships in the right way.

We spoke the truth to our neighbours instead of lying to them?
Paul says it is okay to be angry but do not sin. Be angry in the right way about the right things; the true injustices of the world.
Do not steal. Get a job and work honestly.
Share with those in need.
Don’t gossip and slander other people with either your tongue or your thumbs – let your words be graceful and kind.
Put away bitterness, wrath and anger, slander.

How about we be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you.
Live in love and Jesus loves us and gave himself up for us.

This is the world that all children, all of us should grow up in!

Maybe there are better ways to resolve differences and challenges to beliefs. Jesus is trying, I think, to expand their thinking and believing about God. Some of the crowd are willfully determined not to understand. Have you ever met people like that? They are not stupid or unintelligent, they are willingly incapable of seeing any other point of view. The crowd tries to divert the question by turning attention to Jesus’ family (son of a poor carpenter) and ‘who does he think he is?!’

Jesus is offering the crowd something better. Eternal life. Like all offers from God, we are free to turn it down or not recognize it at all. We can choose dust and ashes over the bread of life. Jesus knows this. We choose death rather than the life we were made for. Jesus chooses death too. He chooses to be in our death. He chooses to be the bread of life who dies so that we may live.

We need to choose life. We have all been given physical life; of course. We have all at some point experienced birth. Some more recently than others. There is more to life than just what we can see, touch, smell and experience. Again, back to imagination and creativity! We need to choose life because one day death will come. It is not the end of life but the start of eternal life, safe in the everlasting arms forever.

We all need to be fed spiritually. This is what we are doing in Communion. In the breaking of the bread we are receiving our bread for the next stage in the journey. We are choosing the bread of life over the dust and ashes. Jesus is the bread of life. May we choose this bread always.

Trinity 9: Bread of Heaven

This is the Artist’s Note (John August Swanson)…For many years, I sketched and tried to work out in my imagination, how I could paint Loaves and Fishes, with its multitude of people. In addition to telling the familiar story, I wanted this image to honor native peoples in many parts of the world; those who work the land for their livelihood and have lived for generations in small communities or villages. 


28/7/24
Trinity 9

Psalm 14
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Over the next few weeks we will be spending some extended time in John 6. Every 3 years, the lectionary provides an opportunity for a deep dive into one of the most important chapters in John’s Gospel. There are some major themes to unpack as Jesus said and did significant things. If you are looking for some summer, may I recommend John 6 to you.

To set up the stall: Verse 1: after this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. ‘After this’ refers to Jesus’ being in Jerusalem for a festival where he healed a man on the sabbath at the pool. This gets the attention of and angers the Jews as Jesus begins to refer to God as ‘My Father’. Jesus and the disciples leave Jerusalem for the Sea of Galilee with a large crowd following them.

The reference to the Passover is also significant to John 6. Passover was part of the exodus when God liberated the people of Israel from Egypt and led them through the wilderness to the promised land. In preparation to leave, the Israelites had to prepare a special meal and then put lamb’s blood around the doorposts of their homes. That night God would pass over the houses with the blood and the Israelites children would be spared death.

God then instructed the Israelites to keep that day as a memorial for all that had been done for them. They were never to forget what God has done for them. Part of Passover and the Exodus was the provision of manna from heaven. Every morning God would rain down bread from heaven enough for the day ahead. This event is detailed in Exodus chapters 1-16 if you need more reading!

For thousands of years and to this day, Passover is celebrated by Jewish people the world over. In John 6, Jesus is coming as the new passover; He is interrupting an old festival with the new.

The exodus Jews were being taken into the wilderness. Jesus has led the crowd into the wilderness away from towns and villages where food could likely be found. Many of us like to know where our next meal is coming from, I wonder if the crowd did? The disciples were about to be put to the test as Jesus asked Philip ‘where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’

The disciples were thinking in economic terms: how much money and where would it come from. Not bad questions to ask. Andrew had found a young boy with some lunch. Five barley loaves and two fish. Hardly enough for the massive crowd and Andrew is aware of this.

I wonder if that was embarrassing for Andrew to do? He is in front of Jesus and his fellow disciples and offers up something so small compared to the great need in front of him. However small, Andrew brought what he had found, the boy and his lunch, to Jesus. Jesus takes this small offering, has the people sit down, gives thanks for it and distributes it.

The people were given as much as they wanted with leftovers. The 12 leftover baskets were clearly a sign to the 12 disciples about the power and authority of Jesus.

The crowd that was following Jesus that day had different ideas about who Jesus was. At the beginning of the day they saw the signs of what Jesus was doing for the sick and they were following him back and forth across Galilee. By the end of the day and after a big lunch the ripple through the crowd is that ‘this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’

Jesus withdrew to the mountain by himself as he realised the crowd was about to come and take him by force to make him king. Remember the Jewish people wanted a human king who would wipe out the Romans and restore their honour.

A strictly human king could not multiply five barley loaves and two fish to feed 5000 men plus women and children. The stories of Jesus feeding huge crowds of people had a profound effect on the early church; there are six accounts in the four gospels of Jesus taking food, giving thanks and multiplying it to feed thousands of people.

Jesus is using bread to feed people which is a very practical thing to do. Hungry people need feeding. Jesus is reminding this mainly Jewish crowd about God’s long history of feeding them the bread of heaven. Thirdly Jesus is using the bread to say something about His authority; this will be new information for the crowd.

Jesus is turning over the natural order of things with the authority given to him. This authority is displayed again only to the disciples as Jesus walks on water. What do you think would surprise you more? The multiplication of the loaves or the walking on water? Faith takes some imagination!

The passover link here refers to God parting the Red Sea so the Israelites could pass through the waters. In this new passover, Jesus is walking on the water and controlling the storm. Although some of the disciples were experienced fishermen, the Jews are not a seafaring race. The sea has always been associated with chaos, evil and untamable forces within nature and the spiritual world.
Jesus tells his disciples not to be afraid as he was with them in the boat. Jesus is still in the boat with us. John does not write if the storm stopped or not. It might not have mattered that much once Jesus was in the boat.

What about us today?

We live in a time where bread is relatively cheap and easy to get. It is generally good for us – lots of vitamins and minerals, dietary fibre, it provides energy, it is affordable for most people to buy and there is a huge selection.

As bread is so easy to come by it may lose its significance for us when we read the stories of Jesus feeding the thousands with bread. Jesus was feeding people who were impoverished, literally starving. He not only physically fed them He spiritually fed them by his teaching and healing.

Most of us here can satisfy our physical hunger quite easily by an abundance of bread in the shops and money in hand. Yet many of us are spiritually hungry. This is a hunger much harder to satisfy as we cannot do it ourselves. There is no shop selling ‘spiritual food’ for us to buy that will fill us up.

Our hunger will only be satisfied by Jesus. I hope we all know this but when we bring to him what little we have; he will bless it and multiply it. It will be more than enough!

If we need some encouragement Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians is a good place to start!

V16-19: 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Let us remember today that we are loved by the God of abundance. He blesses what we bring to him and multiplies it however small or insignificant we might think the offering is. It is in God’s power to do exactly this.

He has fed us in the past like the Jewish people with manna from heaven, He feeds us now and will continue to feed us forever. His love and abundance are wide and long, high and deep and will always be more than enough for us.

Trinity Sunday: Born Again in Baptism

St Nicholas – 9:30 am
Baptism of Chloe Cooper-Berry

26/05/24
Trinity Sunday

Romans 8:12-17
John 3:1-17

This is a very special Sunday! On the church calendar it is Trinity Sunday which means we are celebrating God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit by reminding ourselves that they are one in the same These three are one. Does three equal one?!

We are also celebrating the baptism of Chloe Cooper-Berry. She has brought a lot of family and friends today. We are blessed to have you here! Chloe will be baptised in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Trying to understand how three equals one is confusing! Fortunately we are not alone in this. There was someone else who did not understand: Nicodemus. He was lucky that he was able to take his questions directly to Jesus as we can too of course. Only Nicodemus got to do it in person.

Nicodemus came to understand more about God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit through his conversation with Jesus that dark night in Jerusalem. Who is this guy? Nicodemus was a leader of a group of Jewish people called the Pharisees. He was a big deal in Jerusalem, he was well educated and important. Like most religious people, Nicodemus believes to some extent that God is love. But he believes that God’s love is measured and sensible and follows a set of rules. Yet there is something attractive about this Jesus.

Nicodemus is confused about Jesus and where he fits. This could be why he pays him a visit to get Jesus to fill in the proper forms, tick the right boxes. His confusion is given away in the detail about coming to see Jesus at night. Darkness or night in John’s Gospel represents confusion or a lack of understanding.

A second reason for going at night means that Nicodemus was concerned about being seen with Jesus. He was not willing to risk his reputation or position for Him. Nicodemus’ curiosity got the better of him. Nicodemus starts by telling Jesus that he knows that there is something special about Jesus. Only someone with a special relationship with God could do the things Jesus was doing. He is basically saying ‘I’m someone who can recognise what God is doing and you, Jesus, are doing a pretty good job’.

Jesus’ reply seems to mystify Nicodemus. I’m not sure what your response is when you hear the words ‘born again’. Have you ever thought about how you were born?
Has anyone ever asked you ‘are you born again’?

Nicodemus is picturing a physical re-birth which makes for some interesting mental images around re-entering his mother’s womb. This is not what Jesus means; he is referring to spiritual rebirth in which someone who already possesses life at the physical level comes to birth at a spiritual level.

This is what we are doing in baptism this morning; Chloe is going to be ‘born again’. This happens when I pour water on her head three times and say ‘Chloe, I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’ Spiritual rebirth in baptism is about discovering life in all its fullness which comes only through being born again, or from above. Spiritual rebirth has to come from God. To see his kingdom we need to be born both of water (physically) and spirit (from above). We are all invited to be born again.

Luke & Esther and godparents Sally, Dean & Steph you have accepted the invitation on Chloe’s behalf. You have the great responsibility to now help Chloe understand what that means and to grow into the promises you have made to God and to her. We are here to help you do that.

The other thing that baptism prepares us for is the life after this one is over. John 3:16 is a very familiar verse. It is the first one I remember learning as a child. This verse sets out what it means to be a Christian. What is that?

An invitation to join God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit in the deep and endless richness of God’s love. To join in their being and doing forever. This eternal life is a new quality of life. It is made only possible through the love of God, which is shown in the astonishing fact that he loves the world so much that his only Son, Jesus should die for it.

This is the invitation that Jesus extended to Nicodemus that night and continues to extend to us today. I think that Nicodemus made a start that night in understanding what this love of God is really about, even if he does not quite yet understand. After this midnight meeting with Jesus, Nicodemus goes away changed.

How do we know? He appears on two more occasions in John’s Gospel. Nicodemus defended Jesus when he got into trouble with some other Pharisees. This shows that he is no longer as embarrassed to be seen with Jesus.

The final appearance of Nicodemus is after the crucifixion. He was the one who brought the myrrh and aloes for the preparation of the body. Along with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus took the body, wrapped it with the spices in linen cloth and laid Jesus in the tomb.

Think for a second. Would Nicodemus risk everything, his whole life if he did not believe who Jesus was? If he did not want more of what Jesus was offering? I think Nicodemus had way too much to lose if it was untrue. Nicodemus appears to have accepted the invitation into the deepest relationship that we can be offered: a relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The belief that God is Trinity is the foundation for the belief that God is also love.

Start with the Three and see that it is the deepest nature of One. In the Trinity we discover God’s character, personality, priorities and God’s reality. I can point you in the direction of large theological volumes if that is helpful. When we see the deepest nature of the One as Nicodemus did we are invited to join in the relationship of the Trinity, we are invited to the table to share love and life together. This is worth celebrating.

Easter 5: Courage

Easter 5

28/4/24

Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

While Easter feels like a long time ago , the Church is still in the Easter season between the Resurrection and Ascension and Pentecost. The readings of these weeks tell the story of the early church and what the disciples were getting up to.

Last week in Acts, Peter was speaking to the assembly after being arrested with John; this week Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch for a life changing conversation. The Gospel readings have spotlighted the resurrection appearances of Jesus to those who needed to see him most. Last week we met the Good Shepherd who cares for his wayward sheep.This week, Jesus invites us to abide with him as branches on his vine. In both our readings this morning we are given examples of what happens when we pay attention and choose to stay in the moment with God.

The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch begins with an angel of the Lord visiting Philip. The angel tells him to ‘get up and go toward the south’. Philip demonstrates immediate obedience, no argument, no excuses, Philip’s first response is not No! Most other people who encounter angels usually respond with surprise and shock, think of Mary, Joseph and Elizabeth. Philip does not seem to register any fear or shock, he got up and went.

The next thing that Philip does is hugely courageous. Again, he is told what to do and he does it. This time by the Spirit, ‘go over to the chariot and join it.’ Philip approaches the eunuch and asks if he ‘understands what he is reading?’ Whoa! Imagine for a moment the next time you are on a bus or plane or next to someone who is reading a Bible. Would you interrupt them and ask, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’

Would you do it?! This is courageous living! We, and by this I mean you, us, me need to be able to explain what faith is about. Not religion, not the churchy stuff, rather the Good News of Jesus as Philip did with the eunuch.

Philip appears to be fearless. Why? I think he knew and recognised the voice of The One calling him. The angel and the Spirit both spoke to Philip and he acted with courage and in obedience. Like the sheep with the Shepherd, he recognised the voice.

Philip was right in the middle of the new church which was growing rapidly, more people were being added every day, there were prayer meetings and meals together. Lots of activity and in the midst of that, Philip recognised the voice of the one who was calling him. He had no reason to fear!

Because he knew the voice, Philip was then obedient to what he was being called to do by approaching the eunuch. This led to an invitation to sit with him and proclaimed the Good News about Jesus. Philip baptised him right then and there on the side of the road.

What good news for the eunuch. We are not given his name but he is a foreigner in Jerusalem. He would have looked and spoke differently. As he was a eunuch he could never be fully accepted by the Jews despite being wealthy and of high social status in his own country. It is good news for other people when we overcome our fears and share the good news of Jesus by our example and by our words.

How can we find the courage to recognize, face and overcome fear? By getting to know the one who calls us. Spending time in his company.

John calls this abiding. Abide is a funny word. It is not normal in most people’s everyday language. It feels somehow outdated as we live in a world that does not allow for much to be static; change happens quickly and we seem to be waiting for the next ‘new thing.’ There is a quality to abiding that speaks of commitment and endurance. To abide is much more personal than just hanging about or waiting.

In these early verses of John 15 Jesus speaks of the vine and the branches; He is the vine and we are the branches. The great desire of Jesus and of God the Father is that we remain together. There is a warning about being apart from the vine; we can do nothing, we will not bear fruit and ultimately we will wither. The branches that do not produce fruit will be removed. I am sure we have all had times and seasons in our lives when we have been far from God and know what it is to wither.

‘Abide in me and as I abide in you’ says Jesus. Ben Quash, an Anglican priest and Professor of Christianity & the Arts writes, ‘the challenge of finding the right ways to be an abider in such a world is huge. It’s the challenge of finding the source from which all life flows, the springs of our own being, the grain with which we are meant to live, and which it damages us to go against. It means being part of communities for whom ‘abiding’ is a watchword – above all, for Christians, the Church.’
Christian abiding is not keeping things as they have always been, nor is it about gritting our teeth and staying the course. Abiding is dynamic, it has a sense of full and personal commitment. As Christians we are to be part of churches who abide.‘ That is what Jesus does for us when we let him abide. Can we do the same by abiding in Him?

The beautiful hymn ‘Abide with Me’ provides an excellent discourse on what it is to abide. The writer of that hymn, Henry Francis Lyte, died of tuberculosis 3 weeks after its completion. ‘Abide with Me’ was apparently played on the deck of the Titanic as it sank and it has been played in Remembrance Services across the UK and the world today. At the opening ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics, singer Emeli Sande performed ‘Abide with Me’ to a universal audience and introduced this fine hymn to a new generation – but even in that there was a haunting sadness and beauty to it.

It is a call to the ‘help of the helpless, thou who changest not’ abide with me. It also speaks to the time when heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee.’ Better times are coming, stay close!

Jesus abides in his Father’s love and we are to abide in Jesus’ love. We are called to be a part of this relationship. Abiding gives us a deeper experience of God’s love. As we experience that deep and full love, we should be able to love those around us deeper and better. People are always God’s priority. He first loved us and created us to be in a relationship with him and each other.

As this Easter season continues to unfold around us, we have been given the opportunity to study the early church and how they became a contemplative, compassionate and courageous church. They did this day by day, one person at a time – always listening for the voice of God to guide and direct them, so they could be courageous and obedient in the spreading of the Good News. May we be courageous, obedient and so full of love for others that we can do the same.