Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C 22nd May 2022
Lectionary Readings: Acts 16 v9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21 v10, 22-22v5; John 14 v23-29.
A place for prayer.
In today’s passage from Acts we read of Luke joining Paul and his friends in Troas and journeying to Philippi as a result of a vision given to Paul about someone in Macedonia begging him to visit.
We spent several days in Philippi. Then on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place by the river, where we thought there would be a Jewish meeting place for prayer. We sat down and talked with the women who came. (Acts 16 v12b,13).
Philippi was a Roman colony, a place without a formal meeting place for Jews resident in the city.
As in the time of exile in Babylonia, the Jews met for prayer down by the river. In the Jewish faith water has a symbolic meaning, as a life-giving gift from God. For example, in the book of Jeremiah, the Lord takes the people of Israel to task for their unfaithfulness saying, “You, my people, have rejected me, the source of life-giving water”. (Jeremiah 2 v13)
In today’s reading from the book of Revelation we read, ‘The angel showed me a river that was crystal clear, and its waters gave life. The river came from the throne where God and the Lamb were seated.’ (Rev 22 v1a).
Luke records that is was the women who came to pray. He goes on to introduce us to Lydia, Paul’s first convert in Europe. Her home became an early house church. (see Luke 16 v14-15)
The Collins Bible dictionary says, ‘At its heart, prayer enables a person to enjoy a genuine sense of fellowship with God’. ‘Jesus encouraged believers to pray directly to their heavenly Father but warned them to pray privately rather than draw attention to themselves’. (Matthew6 v5-15).
Do we need a church to pray in? Does it matter to God where we pray? Can we pray on the move?
What matters is that we pray; that we spend time with God. That we seek his will for us, our family, our community and our world.
Hymn writer, Ruth Duck, invites us to pray.
Pray for a world where every child finds welcome in a sheltered place,
where love is tender, undefiled, and firmness intertwines with grace.
Pray for a world where passion’s fire burns not in force or careless lust,
where God’s good gift of deep desire is safe in arms of faith and trust.
Pray for a nation just and fair that seeks the welfare of us all,
where leaders guide with prudent care and nurture life for great and small.
Pray for a world where all have voice and none will batter, rape, abuse.
Till then, may all have rightful choice and pray for wisdom as they choose.
(Sing the Faith No 527).
Bible quotations are taken from the Contemporary English Version.