‘Vision Introduction’ by Rev Allister Lane – 15th May 2022

‘Vision Introduction’ by Rev Allister Lane

15th May 2022

John 13:31-35 and Revelation 21:1-6

Discernment is a practice central to our faith.

Discernment is knowing God; discerning what God’s will is – for me, you, us, the world.

We believe God has chosen to be known;

God is revealed in the witness of scripture, and most fully in Jesus Christ.

Do you know when you are discerning God’s will…?

Every Sunday when we are together hearing God’s Word read and preached!

We do this to better understand God’s will for our lives.

But not JUST here! So many places – whenever we exercise our faith; our trust in God, to be open to guidance and revelation from God.

It involves heart AND head, scripture and experience, individual and joint prayer and reflection.

“One great need of the church today is to experience the dynamic leadership of Christ as its Head…This is the most striking implication of one’s belief in the resurrected Lord. If Christ is alive, he desires to lead his church. If Christ desires to lead his church, his will should be sought. If his will can be sought, it can be discerned; and if it can be discerned, it deserves to be obeyed. This is nothing more than the basic Christian life."  —Paul Anderson

As spiritual leaders, the St John’s Session has been developing our joint discernment.

We feel God is calling us to a time of re-formation, restoration and community re-building. 

We have had retreats and devoted time to prayer and reflection.

We believe God is giving us a new Vision as a church, and we are wanting to introduce this Vision so you can hear our ideas and help us develop this into something that reforms, restores and rebuilds us as a Church.

The two set lectionary readings today beautifully introduce our new Vision.

Gospel according to John…

I want to focus on these 2 verses:

34I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Let me address some questions (even if you weren’t asking them!)

·      Why does Jesus give this commandment to ‘love one another’ – why not to ‘love the world’? 

At this moment (the night before he dies) Jesus is creating a community; Jesus creates a new family. He even calls them “Little children..” (v33)

·      Why does Jesus say this is a ‘new’ commandment?

As early in the Bible as Leviticus it is taught: “you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Lev 19:18)

The commandment Jesus gives is ‘new’ in the sense that he reveals what love really is – in his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has revealed what God’s love is – and this is how they (we) are to love one another. 

Jesus makes this love the distinguishing mark of the church (this family).

It is the characteristic of our shared life that even outsiders recognise as authentic.

How are we doing…? Are we exhibiting this?

What does our witness look like to others?

Are we known by our love for each other?

In Jesus’ words, there is a little sting in the ‘if’:

35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’

Gospel: we aren’t expected to love this way on our own – because God knows we CAN’T love this way on our own.

Jesus says: “Just as I have loved you…” (v34)

This is summarised succinctly (and so graciously) elsewhere in the New Testament:

‘We love because God first loved us’ (1 John 4:19)

Revelation…

Vision: “21Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem…”

This vision is of the New Jerusalem – it is a vision of a city.

God’s love is for the City;

as the symbol of the people God loves.

This vision of the city of people fully and eternally reconciled to God;  restored (no more tears)

Hope for the people of the city.

This speaks of our hope; hope for THIS city – around us here.

So, we have a vision too. For this city, here and now.

·      St Johns now has 10,000 new residential neighbours living in our immediate neighbourhood/community.  There has been a steady increase in the inner city since the late 1990’s and this has accelerated in our immediate neighbourhood in the last 5 years. This is expected to continue in future.

·      Despite declining attendance at mainstream denominations, research shows there continues to be a spiritual ‘hunger’ in the world. The last two pandemic years has been a time of upheaval and uncertainty, and this continues with politically created uncertainty in Ukraine. We believe Christ’s message and our community can share hope in these uncertain times.

We want your input! We will continue the discernment together!

We will share the latest Vision Document soon, and you are all invited to come to discuss this together at a Congregational Forum on Sunday 12th June 2022.