Collect and Readings for First Sunday after Trinity 6th June 2021 Year B Genesis 3.8-15, Psalm 130, 2 Corinthians 4.13- 5.1, Mark 3.20-end;
The Prayer for today
O God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in keeping of your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Whether we live on our own or with other people, most of us have family; we may not see them that often, or we may see them every day. They could even be 'adopted' family – people who look out for you. I think that we have seen a lot of this type of 'family' over the past 18 months, during the pandemic when families are spread across the country or even the world and unable to travel and 'adopted' families have step in to support neighbours with shopping or a friendly wave from the pavement. So members of our family may no longer be alive but they are still our family. Mother and Fathers, stepmother and stepfathers, parents-in -law and children-in-law, sons and daughters, grandchildren and grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers, sisters and cousins, are all family. We share the same genes and sometimes the same jeans!
In every family you will hear about family resemblances, often when a baby is born everyone tries to work out who the baby looks like. The DNA within our families shows up across the generations, either in facial features or in the talents which come to light such as music or painting.
In our Gospel reading this week, Jesus says something rather amazing. He's sitting teaching, surrounded by a closely packed circle of faces, people from all kinds of different families and backgrounds, with all kinds of different looks and personalities. They are there because they sense that in Jesus they can get closer to the true, living God than they've ever been before. They are so keen that they are hanging on every word Jesus speaks, listening to him intently.
And as he looks around at them sitting there, and sees in their eyes their love of God, Jesus happily counts all of them – and everyone else who does the will of God – as members of his close family. He is saying that any of us, however ordinary or damaged, whatever natural family we belong to, or are separated from, are close members of Jesus' family! So you can think of yourself as closely related to Jesus. And that makes all of us in the Church part of the same family, distinguished by the family likeness of doing God's will – living the loving way.
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev'd Fiona Robinson