The scheme for May – June can be found here

2 Sa 3-4; 1 Jn 2; Psalm 39

The story of David continues the trail of blood.

John continues to reveal the light. As we we considering a few days ago – Faith and obedience are as it were two sides of the same coin. ‘By this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments’. Note John does not leave us with the uncertainty of our feelings – they indeed can be our biggest betrayers. How many have ‘felt God close’ as they have ignored the needs of those around them. Concrete acts of Love for our brothers and sisters are evidence that we belong to him – for He is our life. In the fellowship of faith we walk with Christ. ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments . . .’

As with Peter, and James, John takes us to Jesus as we see him in the gospels. All too often, Christian faith is divorced from the Living Word as revealed in the gospels – either he is turned into a simplistic metaphor for ‘love’, in a way that ignores or denies the difficult words on his lips, or  cipher for ‘salvation’ which does not require us to follow him in obedience and faith.