I hope and pray that the love and joy and peace of the risen Lord fill our lives this Eastertide, and I hope that each of us will embody the risen life of Jesus and show in our actions the generous and costly love of God. However, we are also called to talk about the love that we have found in Jesus to those around us. The themes of our gathered worship and housegroups in the period up to Pentecost are designed to enable us to be more faithful in this aspect of our Christian lives.
The Good news is Jesus. It is as we share stories of Jesus, like the woman who washed his feet (Luke 7:36-50 - Sun 27 Apr) that we share the good news.
The Good news will impact different people in different ways, like the two sons in Luke 15:1-32 (Thu 1 May). We will communicate differently with different people.
Each generation is tempted to believe that it is not possible to share the good news with particular groups who are too far from God. We need to resist this temptation to exclude others, following the example of the early church’s decision to share the gospel with the gentiles (Acts 10:23-48 - Sun 4 May).
The first followers of Jesus may have been reluctant and even fearful to become fishers of men (Luke 5:1-11 - Thu 8 May). We look at Good news beyond reluctance.
The proclamation of the good news is a creative task, in which we follow Jesus’ example of using a variety of ways to communicate, including provocative stories (Luke 10:25-37 - Sun 11 May).
There will be times when we will be called to follow the example of Philip (Acts 8:26-40 - Sun 18 May) in sharing Good news with strangers.
We will need to be wise and understanding if we are to communicate about things that genuinely interest other people, following the example of Jesus talking to the woman at the well (John 4:4-30 - Thu 22 May).
Sometimes there will be a need to publicly proclaim the good news in a hostile environment, following the example of Peter and John when under arrest (Acts 4:1-31 - Sun 25 May).
There is a particular challenge to communicate the good news to our friends and family in such a way that they can “come and see” for themselves (John 1:29-51 - Thu 29 May).
May God give each of us the grace to respond to the good news of his grace. May God give those around us the grace to respond to the good news of his grace. May God give us the courage to faithfully proclaim the good news of his grace.