The Lord’s messenger said to Philip, “Get moving and head south until you hit the Jerusalem-to-Gaza road.”

So Philip headed off and found the outback track to which he had been sent. A chariot came along the track, carrying a high ranking Ethiopian official who had travelled to Jerusalem to worship and was now on his way back home. He was the treasurer in the court of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, but because he was a eunuch, he was excluded from full participation in worship at the Jerusalem temple. He was reading the writings of the prophet Isaiah as he rode along in his chariot. The Spirit said to Philip, “Catch up with that chariot and walk alongside it.”

So Philip got running, and as he pulled up alongside, he heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand the meaning of what you are reading?”

The official replied, “How am I ever going to understand it without someone to help get me on the right track?”

He then offered Philip a lift and they sat side by side and looked at the passage of scripture together. The passage said:

“Silent as a lamb that trots to its fate,
knowing neither shearer nor slaughterer,
he never whinges or protests.

“His public humiliation made a mockery of justice.
No one will ever speak of his descendants,
for in the prime of life, he is wiped off the earth.”

The eunuch said to Philip, “Now here’s a question for you: who is the prophet saying these things about? Is he talking about himself, or about someone else?”

Then Philip launched into an inspired response, and with this passage of scripture as his starting point, he spelt out the great news about Jesus to the official. As they continued along the road, they came to a water hole, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is some water! Is there anything to stop me being baptised here and now?”

He gave the order to pull over and park the chariot. The two of them went down into the water together, and Philip baptised the eunuch. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord whisked Philip away. The official never saw him again, but continued his journey home, bursting with joy. Philip turned up at Azotus, and set off from there, broadcasting the great news in every town he passed through in the area, all the way to Caesarea.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Whenever people gather to worship,
my heart overflows and I sing your praises.
Out in the open for all to see
I’ll do all that I promised.

At your table, God, the needy will feast;
those who hunger for you will be fed till they burst with praise!
They will be able to live it up, now and forever!

In every corner of the earth people will wake up to themselves
and turn back to you, LORD.
Every race, nation, tribe and family
will offer themselves to you in worship,
for you have the last word on everything;
what you say goes.

Even the dead will bow down to you, LORD;
those who are trampled in the dust will look to you in hope,
and I will live for you and you alone.

Our kids and their kids will serve you, LORD;
as we pass the message down from one generation to the next.
People not even born yet will hear the story;
they will be told of what you have done to set us free.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Dear friends, let us love one another, because all love originates in God. Everyone who truly loves is able to do so because of their relationship with God: God has given birth to them and they are well acquainted with God. Those who do not love certainly do not know God, because God is love. God’s love was made known to us in the act of sending the one and only Son of God into the world so that, through him, we might find authentic life. The reality of love is not discovered in our love for God, but in the love God showed for us in sending the Son to make the ultimate sacrifice and wipe out the record of our corruption. Dear friends, since God has loved us to such an extraordinary extent, we ought to take our lead from that, and love one another. No one can see or catch hold of God, but if we love one another, God will be living within us and God’s love will grow to maturity in us.

Our confidence that we are living in God and that God is living in us is based on the evidence of God giving us a share of the Spirit. We know, from first hand experience, that the Father sent his Son on a mission to rescue the world. We have said it openly and we will continue to do so. God lives in those who are open about their belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God. Through living in God in this way, we have come to know and trust in God’s love for us.

God is love. Those who go on living in love go on living in God, and God goes on living in them. In this way, love is being brought to full maturity among us, and it will ensure that on the day of judgment, we can stand with our heads held high. You see, as we and God live in each other, we are becoming what God is, right here in the midst of the world. We will stand with heads held high because those who truly love have nothing to fear. Indeed, perfect love banishes fear. It is the thought of punishment that makes people fearful, and so those who are still fearful have still got some way to go before love is fully grown within them. We can love only because we have first received love from God. If we claim to love God while refusing to love each other, we are liars. How can any of us expect to express love for an invisible God if we won’t even commit ourselves to loving the people we see and interact with? We have clear instructions from Jesus on this: those who love God must love their sisters and brothers too.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Jesus said:

“I am the true vine. My Father is the chief gardener who regularly gets out the pruning saw to clean up the vine. Any branches that fail to bear fruit are cut clean off, and the fruitful branches are cut back clean so that they will bear even more fruit. You have already been cleaned up by the message I have been preaching to you. Go on living in me, just as I live in you. No branch can bear fruit if it has been cut off and can no longer draw its life from the vine. Neither can you unless you continue to live your life in me. I am the whole vine, and you are my branches. Those of you who remain united to me and allow me to live my life in you will produce a solid harvest of good fruit. By contrast, if you are cut off from me, you won’t produce a thing. Those who try to go it alone rather than drawing their life from me will be disposed of like broken branches. Such branches are tossed aside to dry out before being bundled up and burned on the fire. If you go on living in me and my words go on receiving a home in you, then you can ask for whatever you hope for and it will be done for you. My Father receives due glory when you begin following in my footsteps, and showing it by bearing plenty of fruit.”

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you have sent your Son as the Saviour of the world
and your Spirit to graft us into the vine of life.

You created the universe and everything in it,
and revealed your perfect love
in your commitment to your people
and your care for the poor and afflicted.

Through your prophets you promised a righteous servant
who would suffer humiliation and injustice
and, like a sheep to the slaughter, have his life taken away.
In your Son, Jesus Christ,
we have seen your promises fulfilled,
and through his resurrection,
he has broken the power of death to hold the righteous.
In his perfect love, our fear is cast out,
and now, like branches of a vine,
we live in him and draw our life from him,
that we might bear much fruit to your glory.

Therefore with .....

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We give thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ,
whose perfect love casts out our fear,
and in whom we live, like branches of a vine,
drawing our life from him
that we might bear much fruit to your glory.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you have sent your Son as the Saviour of the world
and your Spirit to graft us into the vine of life.

You created the universe and everything in it,
and revealed your perfect love
in your commitment to your people
and your care for the poor and afflicted.

Through your prophets you promised a righteous servant
who would suffer humiliation and injustice
and, like a sheep to the slaughter, have his life taken away.
In your Son, Jesus Christ,
we have seen your promises fulfilled,
and through his resurrection,
he has broken the power of death to hold the righteous.
In his perfect love, our fear is cast out,
and now, like branches of a vine,
we live in him and draw our life from him,
that we might bear much fruit to your glory.

Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

God loved us and sent his only Son into the world
so that we might live through him.
True love is known, not in our love for God,
but in God’s love for us, sacrificing his son
to overcome the burden of our sins.

Sisters and Brothers,
  your sins are forgiven;
    be at peace.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go now, and love one another,
because love is from God.
Proclaim God’s salvation to every generation.
Remain in Jesus Christ,
and like branches of a vine, draw your life from him.

And may God the vine grower tend you and make you fruitful;
May Christ Jesus abide in you and give you life;
And may the Holy Spirit cast out all fear and fill you with God’s love.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
   In the name of Christ. Amen.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net