How do we discern a person’s heart? How do we know good from evil? For the last two weeks we have heard parables that remind us that we are often not the best judge.

In the parable of the sower, the sower does not distinguish between the stony ground and good soil; in the parable of the wheat and weeds, the farmer allows both to grow together. This week, in Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52, we have a similar parable about the nets of fish: all are gathered in, the good and the bad together.

The other parables this week give us an insight into why we are not to judge, our view and God’s view are not often the same.

We are in the middle of a series of parables about seeds, weeds and growing things. The farmer in this week’s gospel, Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43, is as much of a maverick as last week’s (who scattered seed generously over all the ground whether the soil was good or bad) today the farmer allows the wheat and the weeds to flourish together in his field. The workers want to root out the weeds but the farmer forbids them. Both weeds and wheat grow from the same soil and to uproot one may also uproot the other.

The Greek word used for weed in this story is Zizania, a wild grain that looks very similar to wheat. It seems that it is difficult to distinguish good from bad grains and the same can be said for human beings.

Just like last week, this week’s gospel makes it clear that human beings are not the best judge and that any judging should be left in God’s hands.

Listen, a sower went out to sow” … we all know Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23, it is the parable of the sower.  We tend to interpret it, however, as the parable of the soil.  We wonder about our own soil: is our faith shallow like rocky ground?  are we too choked with the cares and concerns of the world like thorny ground?  We wonder even more about our neighbours’ soil: we compare and have opinions about who is bearing much fruit and who is bearing little.  But it is the parable of the SOWER.  It has something to say, not about us, but about God.  Whilst we are busy judging whose soil is best and whose lives are the most fruitful, the sower blithely carries on scattering seed everywhere.

Today we celebrate Pride Sunday. 

What kind of God do we want? Whatever God we hope for, we are likely to have expectations disappointed at some point or other. 

In the gospel, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, Jesus lambasts the crowd for never being satisfied: when God sends John, they complain that he is too serious; when God sends Jesus, they complain that he is too joyful.

God comes to us in many forms and most of them do not fit our expectations.

The banner outside out church reads: “Everyone welcome, no exceptions.”

“Everyone” is an easy concept to grasp but what do we mean by “welcome”?

In Biblical society, the practice of welcome, could be the difference between life and death.  If the widow or the orphan could not find a household to welcome them, they were destitute.  

Windrush Day celebrates the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush on 22nd June 1948 bringing the first group of Caribbean migrants to Britain.  The nation was suffering a labour shortage and invited migrants to resettle in the UK to help with the post-war rebuilding.

Windrush day honours the contributions of migrants to the post-war economy and to our culture and society.  Today it is a day of thanksgiving for the courage, resilience, and contribution of the Windrush Generation and their descendants.  It is also an opportunity to lament the injustices they endured and to commit ourselves to building a society where all are welcomed and valued.

Our readings today begin with God commanding us, in Leviticus 19:33-34, to treat foreigners the same as  native born.  God shows no partiality and we too should make distinction between people based on place of birth, heritage or skin colour, we are all neighbours.

Despite this command, the questioner in Luke 10:29-37 still asked Jesus to define “neighbour”.  In reply Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan.  A story which turns the question on its head: it is the native-born Israelite who is in need of a neighbour and is healed and saved by the compassion of a foreigner. 

Throughout scripture we are reminded that we need one another.  We are, of course, asked to offer hospitality and welcome to the stranger and the foreigner but also to realise that are as much in need of them as they are of us.  Without them we are like the man who fell among thieves and is left for dead.

We are now in what the church calls, Ordinary Time.  We have celebrated the life and ministry, the death and resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit.  In the weeks to come we explore why we are given the Spirit and how we continue the work of Christ in the world.  

Both of readings describe being chosen: In Exodus 19:2-8a God tells his people: “you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples… a priestly kingdom and a holy nation." In Matthew 9:35-10:8 Jesus picked out just 12 of his followers and “gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.”

The problem with being chosen is that it can lead to a feeling of exclusivity, of superiority.  The chosen can assume that they are different from and therefore better than those who are not chosen.

Yet time and time again scripture reminds us that no one is chosen because they have any special merit (indeed, Jesus chooses Judas, who will betray him).  They are as much in need of grace as anyone.  They are blessed and given the power of the Spirit solely so that they might bring blessing, healing, and liberation to others. 

Any grace that God gives can only truly be received when it is given away.  It is in freeing others that we ourselves are set free; in healing others that we are made whole; in being a blessing that we ourselves are blessed.

Today is the first Sunday after Trinity when we should be hearing the story of Jesus calling the tax-collector, Matthew.  Instead (in a rare break from observing the lectionary) we are hearing again the readings set for Pentecost.  Of course, these readings are worth hearing again but the reason for the repetition is that so many of us were away for the feast of Pentecost. 

As we are a parish named for the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, for us, is our patronal festival.  We are the people of the Holy Spirit and, as our readings make clear, the Holy Spirit is a gift which can only be received when we are gathered in community.

In both Acts 2:1-21 and John 20:19-23, the spirit comes when the disciples are gathered together, they receive it as a community.  The Spirit gives different gifts to different individuals so that together we may be the body of Christ in the world and together reflect the glory of God. 

These gifts are given to be used in and by the community of the faithful, through which God acts to recreate the world around us.  So, the arrival of the Holy Spirit in our readings echoes the work of the Spirit in the very beginning when  creation was brought into being: the rushing wind in Acts recalls the wind of the Spirit moving across the waters of chaos in Genesis 1; Jesus breathing the spirit of peace on his disciples in John repeats the action of God breathing life into a people of dust and earth in Genesis 2.

As we gather today to celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, we gather together to share food and fellowship and strengthen the bonds that unite us and we receive the Easter light, the light of Christ, as a symbol of our calling to take that light into the world and draw others into the beloved community  of God.

Trinity Sunday can seem a bit dry after the excitement of Pentecost but it helps us to explore how we live out the gift of the Spirit which invites us into deeper union with both God and one another.  Our first reading assures us of our relationship with God whilst the gospel reading focuses on what this means for our relationship with others.

Isaiah 40:12-17, 27-31 describes a God who is both transcendent, unknowable and unlike us:

“who has measured the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span”. 

A God who is more powerful and greater than any human power:

 “all nations are as nothing to him”.

Yet also a God who is intimate and personal, who knows our ways and our fears, who longs to care for us: strengthening the weary and raising up the powerless.

In Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus opens this relationship with God to all humanity: we, who are now bearers of the Spirit, are sent into unite “all nations” bringing them into communion with both God and one another:

 “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

We are no longer mere guests at God’s table, we are also hosts who welcome those God sends.

Pentecost marks the start of something radically new in the story of our salvation and so both of our readings echo the story of the very beginning:

Acts 2:1-21 echoes the Spirit moving over the waters of creation “and suddenly there came … the rush of a violent wind.”

Whilst in  John 20:19-23, Jesus breathes on the disciples in an echo of God breathing life into the very first creatures of dust and earth.

In general though, human beings are fearful of change.  Change involves letting go and moving into the unknown.  Soo it is not surprising that our readings also both speak of fear and bewilderment: In John the disciples are huddled behind locked doors because they are afraid. In Acts 2:1-21 the arrival of the Holy Spirit is something sudden and violent.

Yet the readings have something else in common, each begins with the disciples gathered together.  Whether they are experiencing fear, bewilderment or joy, they are experiencing it as a community.  

God continues to offer us new beginnings, the Spirit is constantly at work bringing fresh order out of the disorder of our lives and our world.  Whether we find these new beginnings thrilling or terrifying, the important thing is that we explore them together, for it is together that we are sent out to take the gifts of the Spirit to a world in need to renewal.

Today our Annual Parochial Council Meeting takes place within our morning worship.  The business part of this meeting is short: we elect those who will serve as our Church Wardens and on our Parish Church Council for the coming year. 

The APCM gives us the opportunity to give thanks for all who have served our community in the past year; to declare our support for those who will serve us going forward; and to ask for God’s blessing on their work. 

In place of the sermon we will have a speed summary of what we have been up to in the last year. 

As we look back at 2025 and look forward to the year ahead we have a chance to reflect on what it means for each of us to be part of Christ’s church.  In John 17:1-11, Jesus prays that his disciples may have eternal life which he describes, not as life after death or life at the end of time but as a relationship with him and with God:

“And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  

Christ’s gift to the church, life in all its fullness, is found in the depth of our relationships, not only with God but also with one another; so Jesus prays “that they may be one, as we are one.”

In the year ahead may those relationships increase and strengthen  as we seek to become a beloved community bring Christ to the world.

In the time after the Resurrection and before the Ascension our Gospel readings this year focus on Jesus reassuring the disciples: where will they find God without him? how will they know which way to follow? Today, in John 14:15-21, Jesus again explains that God is present there in and among them; that were there is community, dwelling together in love, there God will be also.  Paul echoes this in Acts 17:22-31 as he stands in the public square before the statues of every God: “God does not live in shrines made by human hands” for “in him we live and move and have our being.”  Paul’s message is universal, we all bear God’s imprint, for “he made all nations” and we are all his offspring. Where we see the works of love offered to all, there we see God.    

The work of love has no limits but we do. Jesus calls us not rely on own strength but to be drawn into closer relationship with one another and God, so that the gift of love may be shared among us.  As we grow into beloved community, able to both give and receive, we find ourselves resourced for the work God gives us.   

This Sunday also marks the beginning of Christian Aid Week.  This year the focus is on families who are being helped to grow their own food in a crowded informal settlement outside Nairobi. Supporting Christian Aid is one way in which we can share God's love in practical action to help our neighbours in deprived parts of God's world.

It is all very well Jesus telling us (as he does in John 14:1-10) not to be troubled or afraid but our lives are full of doubt and uncertainty and we all struggle knowing which way to go.  So we can sympathise with Philip who longs for certainty, for something concrete, when he begs Jesus to just “show us the father”. 

Jesus is exasperated: “have I been with you all this time and still you do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the father.”  Do you still not get it?  No! we don’t.  We look for something outside of ourselves when all the time God is revealing Godself within us and within each other.

God, faith, the meaning of life, all of this can only be found by living it.  Jesus goes on: “if you do not believe [because of me] then believe me because of the works themselves”.  Are our actions and choices, our communities and relationships, bearing fruit? Where can we see human flourishing? What is leading to justice, peace, healing and love? For wherever we see these things there we will find God.

Jesus asks us not to seek certainty but instead to trust, to trust that God chose us and through us will do “greater works than these”.  When our hearts our troubled and our way is not clear, let us look to whatever is true, honourable, just and pure … and the God of peace will be with us.