Sentence for the Week

'Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you', says the Lord. 'Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.'
John 14:27

Collect for Reflection

Alleluia, God Eternal, grace and wholeness show your glory.
Deliver us from sin's oppression, free us from despair, and have us stand to reflect the glory of Christ;
Through Jesus Christ our Liberator, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen 

 Now also read these related verses (text below):
First Reading Acts 16:9-15
Psalm Psalm 67
Second Reading Revelation 21:10- 22:5
​Gospel John 14:23-29

Household Prayer​ :  Morning
Lord, You inclined your ear and heard my cry, and lifted me when I was low. Strengthen me for service as I carry your light to the world.
AMEN.

Household Prayer : Evening
God of the night watches, guard me from torment, release me from distress. Call me close to you and kiss me with your favour that I may rest secure in you.
​AMEN.

Praying this week for....

• everyone in the parish of St Johns - for protection, strength and wisdom to follow God's will;
• Our Diocese: Bishop Steven Benford and his wife Lorraine; Vicar General, Venerable Jan Clark; for our companion Dioceses in Edinburgh and Eastern Zambia.
• New Zealand Anglican Missions Board; Today we pray for the youth of our Province – Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia. We lift to you the many educational institutions including Anglican Schools that are dedicated to giving young people a faith, a hope and a future.
• Southland Archdeaconry: Archdeacon Keith Gover; We pray for the Parishioners of All Saints’ Gladstone and their Vicar Rev’d Richard Aitken. We pray for Judith Peterson, her team at South Centre and all whom they come into contact with during this week. We pray for the Parishioners of Holy Trinity Gore, their Vicar Rev’d Gary Griffith-Smith and their Local Priest Bruce Cavenagh. 
• pray for ways God can use us and our gifts. May we be sensitive to the needs of those around us at this time and may we come to a fresh understanding of all that Jesus suffered that first Easter that we might have new life.
• that we be always willing to share whatever we have with those less fortunate than ourselves in our community.

        Reflection question:  
When Lydia hears the gospel, she becomes the first Christian in Europe.
Led by the Spirit, Lydia's faith is decisive and her witness is immediate. The word opens her heart in love, and she opens her house in hospitality in service of the gospel.
​How might Lydia's witness excite your sense of ministry and mission this day? Where might you find someone searching for God's word?

Acts 16:9-15
New International Version9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.
13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Psalm 67[a]For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
    and make his face shine on us--[b]
2 so that your ways may be known on earth,
    your salvation among all nations.
3 May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.
4 May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
    for you rule the peoples with equity
    and guide the nations of the earth.
5 May the peoples praise you, God;
    may all the peoples praise you.
6 The land yields its harvest;
    God, our God, blesses us.
7 May God bless us still,
    so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Revelation 21:10-22:5
New International Version10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[a] in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits[b] thick.[c] 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[d] 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Eden Restored22 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Footnotes

1. Revelation 21:16 That is, about 1,400 miles or about 2,200 kilometers
2. Revelation 21:17 That is, about 200 feet or about 65 meters
3. Revelation 21:17 Or high
4. Revelation 21:20 The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.

​
John 14:23-29
New International Version23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.