Sermons

Novena

Preached by The Reverend Paul Burrows on Easter 7 (Sunday, May 16, 2010)

Sunday, May 16, 2010
Easter 7
Advent of Christ the King

These know that you have sent me

John 17:25

The Novena – a devotion of nine days of prayer – has its origin in the season we are observing at the moment. The Apostles, with Mary and others among the disciples, remained in prayer for nine days after our Lord’s ascension concluding with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Feast of Pentecost. This paradigm of waiting in prayer for inspiration and direction from the Holy Spirit has been a part of Christian culture ever since and is something we should all strive to imitate. All of us have a tendency to rush into things with a clear idea of what we want to achieve and even, often, a clear plan of action but without the help and support of the Holy Spirit. We rush to fulfill our own dreams without ever asking, “is this what God wills.” And we wonder why it is that not everyone sees as we do what needs to be done – it seems so clear and so obvious.

Since we all know what is going to happen next Sunday it is hard for us to put ourselves in the position of the disciples waiting for they know not what. But that is what we are asked to do as we grow in our relationship with God and into our life in the Church. We may think we know what God is calling us to do, we may even believe that it is all so obvious that all must see it the way we do but it is not so. God has things in mind for us that we have not even thought of and in many cases cannot even imagine. And so we must wait and pray and be open to possibilities. It is not just nine days of prayer that we have to engage in – although I would deeply encourage that – but a perpetual novena, praying all the time that God will push us into new and powerful works for the Gospel.