May 2025: Points to Ponder
Points to Ponder
Third Sunday of Easter
5 May 2025
They fished through the darkness but their nets were empty. ‘That night they caught nothing.’ The darkness, however, was not just about the night sky. The darkness was also in the disciples. In the same way, the empty net is not only descriptive of their fishing efforts it’s descriptive of the disciples themselves. They are as empty as their nets. Who hasn’t experienced that darkness and emptiness here? You know what that’s like. You fish, you work, you do your best but you still come up empty. In those times we have come to the limits of our own self-sufficiency. We have nothing to show for our efforts and nothing left to give. We’re empty.
That’s when Jesus, still unrecognised by the disciples, shows himself and says, ‘Children, you have no fish, have you?’ That’s not so much a question as it is a statement. Within Jesus’ words I hear the echo of Mary’s voice at the wedding in Cana when she said to Jesus, ‘They have no wine’ (John 2:3). Empty nets. Empty jars. No wine, no fish, no life. That’s when Jesus showed himself.
Nets and jars cannot be filled unless they are first emptied. In the same way we can never be filled with Jesus until we are first emptied of ourselves, until we come to recognize the limits of our own self-sufficiency. The emptiness is not the end or a failure but a beginning. The miracle begins when the wine runs out. Jesus shows up when the nets are empty.
Michael K.Marsh
Interruptingthesilence.com
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Fourth Sunday of Easter
11 May 2025 • Day of Prayer for Vocations
Just for fun, I googled this question: ‘Is my phone listening to me?’ And the top hit was a simple answer: ‘Yes, and here’s how to stop it.’ Have you ever had an experience of talking to a friend about buying something – let’s say a power-washer – and the very next time you went on Facebook or somewhere like that, you saw ads for power-washers?
Yes, our phones and other devices are listening to us. They hear our voices. And then they try to sell us stuff. They know us, and all too often, we hear their voice and follow them. But they are often false shepherds, making promises that they cannot keep. There is only one true shepherd. And we are all his sheep. And today, we are reminded to listen to his voice. Because at the end of the day, there is only one voice we can trust; one voice that truly matters to our soul. And that is the voice of the shepherd, the voice of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
So why don’t we always hear that voice? And how might we hear it more effectively? I want to put aside the obvious reasons why we don’t hear his voice – that there are too many other competing voices, and we don’t always take the time to listen to his voice. But at the end of the day, Jesus seems to be saying to us, it is only the voice of the shepherd that can lead us home, that can lead us to safety.
Tonya LaLonde
mypastoralponderings.com
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Fifth Sunday of Easter
18 May 2025
Human beings develop institutions to serve human purposes. We belong to something greater. We belong to the Kingdom of God. Our identity is not in an institution or an organisational structure or a legal system. Our identity is in Jesus Christ, who loves us, who died for us, who rose again, who rules over heaven and earth, and who will one day come in glory to call us to himself.
Our purpose, as beloved children of God, is only this one thing: to love. To love without judgment. To love without fear. To love without bias, or qualification, or exception. To love as Christ has loved us.
We are to love the people we want to love and the people we can’t stand.
We are to love the people who live the way we think they should, and we are to love the people who don’t.
We are to love the people who are just like us, and the people who are so different from us we can’t see how we have anything in common.
We are to love as Jesus loved, including people in our lives, walking beside them, eating with them, caring for them, listening to them, including ‘them’ as an integral part of ‘us.’
Because that’s what Jesus says. Love. Each. Other.
Jo Anne Taylor
www.pastorsings.com
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Sixth Sunday of Easter
25 May 2025
When someone we love leaves us, it’s natural for us to not want to see them go, but if we really love them, we have to let them go. Real love allows us to release those we care about. When we try to hang on to the ones we love, we are being selfish. Jesus was preparing to die and eventually return to his Father, but the disciples did not want him to leave. He urged them to rejoice because he was leaving. His departure would allow the disciples and all believers to do great things, including growing Christianity.
Jesus was more concerned for the disciples than he was for himself. He reassured them that they would not be alone. He promised them peace and hope-the same peace and hope he offers to all believers.
There are times when we feel alone and we don’t know what will happen to us. We could be stranded in a strange town with a broken-down car. Our spouse has just died and our future looks bleak. You’ve lost your job and you have no idea what to do next. At times like these it’s natural for us to ask ourselves, ‘What’s to become of me?’ How do we take care of ourselves in such moments? For us as Christians, the answer is clear. God wants us to trust in him. When we do, we will receive both the Holy Spirit and God’s peace.
sermonsfrommyheart.com