Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 7th Sunday of Easter, landing on June 1st, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use the bulletin to follow along with the service and sermon, or you can use the words that will appear on your screen and the sermon is also included on this page under the video.
If you’d like to enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a candle in your space, lit at the beginning of the service and extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink prepared for consumption at the appropriate time. Further instruction will be given then.
May God’s enriching and empowering love enrich and empower you, this day and always!
Holy God, your voice is heard in the thunder and silence. By your Spirit may we hear you speak in and around our lives, that we feel the fullness of your love and grace, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
So the other day I was driving the kids to school, and we noticed a plethora of pylons all over the road, which led us to believe that the lines on the street that leads to the school were repainted overnight. Now, I realise that in itself isn’t exactly interesting, it’s literally like watching paint dry, but it was the sight of the pylons and the fresh paint that made me chuckle a little. See, they reminded me of the “not my job” memes that were somewhat popular on the internet a few years back.
If by chance that you’re not one of the like, 4 people here that know what I’m talking about, there were these pictures circulating around the internet with a label of “not my job” or “winner of the ‘not my job awards’” or something, with an image of someone who… how shall we say… wasn’t really looking for a promotion or maybe they were already fired or something. See they depicted a job that was technically done, but probably not in the best or logical way, because some factor that “wasn’t their job” blocked them from doing that job properly. And for whatever reason, most of these pics that I saw were about the painting of road lines. Some examples of these pictures are:
This city worker who couldn’t push the dirt off the road or wait for someone to come do it before painting those lines.
Not sure if it’s a bird or umbrella, but it couldn’t have been that hard for them to just kick it to the side. But hey, not their job, I guess.
And the one that actually started it all, a dead rat now permanently affixed to the road because the worker couldn’t be bothered to grab rubber gloves or a shovel or a hockey stick or something.
And my personal favourite, I guess this motorist didn’t get the memo that they shouldn’t park here during the prime road line painting times. At least they have some new snazzy racing stripes good for at least 3 or 4 hp at the crank.
We see these kinds of pictures calling out this “not my job” mentality, and we chuckle because it’s just so ridiculous. I mean, how lazy can people be? How hard is it to just go a couple extra inches to finish the job properly? How narrow does someone have to be to not be able to adapt just a teeny bit in order to do what needs to be done?
Well, for these things in these pictures we’d think that it isn’t that hard, we’d be able to do the job right, no problem. But aren’t there times when we feel like maybe we’d rather avoid that extra work, we’d rather duck that extra responsibility, we might claim that whatever we don’t want to do is above our paygrade so we absolve ourselves from doing it? I mean, if you’re anything like me, this might happen more often than we let off. Like, if you’re anything like me, you might feel overwhelmed with all things around us that we feel need to be done, you might feel inundated with all the wrongs that we see should be righted, you might feel burdened with the weight of the world.
And in those feelings of being overwhelmed, inundated, and burdened, we might be tempted to shirk away, hole up, or just delay our involvement so then maybe whatever it is that needs to be done can just take care of itself, perhaps then reassuring us that it really wasn’t our job after all. Again, this happens to me a lot. I’m not trying to be lazy or irresponsible or anything like that, at least I hope I’m not, but it’s just that… there is so much going on in the world. There is so much need even in just our neighbourhood. There are so many evils and subtle sins that should be dealt with. There is just too much to handle, and it gets so tiring just thinking about it.
And so we are tempted to just claim that it’s our job so we don’t have to deal with it, and maybe our guilt in it can be alleviated.
I mean, look at our first reading for today. Paul and Silas were just minding their own bee’s wax when they went and solved a problem that could likely have been bothering more than just them. And what happens? They get the snot kicked out of them and are thrown in jail. I mean, that’s gratitude for you, huh? Just do the right thing and get chastised for it like this.
Maybe that is part of the fear of claiming jobs that aren’t technically ours but need to be done anyway. Maybe the work won’t be appreciated, maybe we won’t be seen by our intention of being helpful or even loving, maybe we’ll do it wrong and just make things worse. All these are valid concerns, I mean they are some of my biggest fears.
But then to confuse matters even more, look at what Paul and Silas do in the wrongful imprisonment. They go and sing hymns. Their spirits aren’t broken. They continue to be joyful, thankful, and praising God.
And that is pretty wild.
How can this even be? How are they able to do that? How do they have this strength, against all odds?
Well, as we see in our gospel lesson for today: Jesus prays for it. Jesus earnestly asks God to give this to them and to us. Jesus wills upon all people the love that raised mountains, formed the heavens, and breathed life into all things.
And this love strengthens us. Moves us. And joins us together in this community, kingdom, and one body of Christ.
This doesn’t mean that it’s our job then to save everyone and we should be able to do it or else there’s something wrong with us. But what it does mean is that it isn’t our job to save everyone, that belongs to God through Jesus. Rather, our job is but to love.
Love God. Love our neighbours. Love ourselves.
Then perhaps in and through this we might see the role that we play in this body and community as well as the role that others play. Perhaps we might be able to see how we are all connected and equally forgiven by a benevolent God. Perhaps we might be able to see how we all aren’t so different in that we are all human, fallen to sin, and in need of a Saviour. A Saviour who was born, lived, died, and risen again. A Saviour through whom we are all redeemed and given value and worth. A Saviour by whom we are all blessed with this boundless love.
See, even when they were fresh from being unjustly beaten and jailed, the Apostle Paul saw his jailor as worthy of this love and prevented him from prematurely ending his own life. Jesus, on the exact night that he was betrayed, saw his betrayers, his deniers, and his abandoners worthy of this love and fervently prayed for and blessed them and us, whether it was accepted or not. And God, throughout an entire history of human sin and unrighteousness, saw all people as worthy of this love and created a plan to reveal to all the gracious and unending welcome into this family and salvation.
This love is the gift given to all of us by God. This love is the foundation of who we are as God’s people. This love is the blessing that lifts us up to be more, see more, and do more in God’s name.
Again, this doesn’t mean that we have to do everything for everyone in order to show them that we love them. That just isn’t our job. But it does mean that we are able to be part of the healing, the joy, and the connection that comes through that love found in this community of God.
So while I might still cringe away from certain responsibilities and duties that I might be afraid of, I can know that even in my failures and successes, even in my shortcomings and strengths, even in what’s my job and what’s not my job, I, all of you, and everyone who ever has and will live, will continue to be loved and held and united by our gracious God. So much so that we are saved, welcomed, and made to be one with God and each other through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ our Lord.
So as we get to the end of this season of Easter, may we always remember our unchanging position in the body of Christ through the love of God, that we can see how we are emboldened to love God, each other, and even ourselves. Thanks be to God. Amen.