Rosemary Theobalds, a member of St Mary’s RC Church comments onJohn 14 v 8-17:

A FEW weeks ago, the front page headline of the Courant read, ’Government call in on BID Ballot bust-up.

Those who had worked so hard with meetings, leafleting, articles in the Press, and even a pop-up shop must have felt despair to read that some businesses were saying that many did not know anything about the BID scheme.

In this weekend’s passage from John’s Gospel, we sense a similar frustration in Jesus when one of his close friends, Philip, says, ‘Lord, let us see the Father, and then we shall be satisfied’, to which Jesus replies, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?’

Jesus goes on to try to explain the relationship he has with the Father, ‘I am in the Father, and the Father is in me.’

But the relationship does not end there because we 21st century men, women and children, you and I, are included in this relationship, and Jesus even says that we will perform even greater works than he has.

We have a hard time believing that, but the secret is that the dance which draws in everyone is made possible by the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.

He is the unifying source in the world, and Jesus promises us this Holy Spirit whom he describes as Advocate, Protector and Support.

The point is that we are not alone, ‘orphans,’ nor are we to think of ourselves as separate from the rest of Creation, from one another, from love, from God.