A Reflection on the Call of the First Disciples

Mark 1: 14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[a] of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[c] repent, and believe in the good news.” 

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

REFLECTION

Today’s gospel reading tells us of the call of Simon and Andrew and then James and John.  Jesus comes up to them as they are going about their everyday business and says, “Come, follow me.”  This is important.  Jesus doesn’t say, “Listen to what I say and do it.”  Jesus doesn’t say, “Come and listen to me and learn from me.”  Jesus says, “Come, follow me.”  That me is very, very important.  Jesus isn’t just inviting these simple fishermen to learn from him and find out more about him: Jesus is inviting them to get to know him as a person; he is inviting them into a personal relationship with him.

It is very easy to know a lot about a person without really knowing that person personally.  I’ve recently finished a very good biography of John Wesley.  I know something of his early life in Epworth, how he was rescued from a fire at an early age and that his father often had problems with debt.  I know he was a dedicated student in Oxford and about his unfruitful time in America.  I know of his experience in Alders gate when his “heart was strangely warmed”.  I know he prayed daily for four hours, travelled many thousands of miles during his itinerant preaching ministry.  I know of his concerns for the poor and needy.  I could go on but I think you get the idea.  I know lots and lots of things about John Wesley but in no way could I say I know him as a person, that I have a personal relationship with him.  I know a lot about John Wesley, but I don’t have a personal relationship with him.

Sadly this is the kind of relationship some people in the church have with Jesus.  They know about Jesus, they have read the gospels, been impressed by his words, wondered at his miracles and even humbled by his death on the cross.  They know all the facts about Jesus life, but they don’t know Jesus; they don’t have that personal relationship with him.

I was brought up in the church.  I attended Sunday school from age three and was confirmed age thirteen.  I knew a lot about Jesus, but I didn’t know Jesus personally: I didn’t know that I could.

When I was 20 I had the opportunity to attend a Christian youth camp at Hollybush Farm in North Yorkshire.  I went to the evening worship service on Saturday, which was taken by a very gifted young evangelist.  His name was Roy Crowne and he’s now the Director of Youth For Christ.  He spoke to us about something I’d never heard before, about the need for confession and repentance; about the fact that nothing I could do would earn me salvation, no matter how good I was but that salvation was a gift from God given to all who accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord: about the possibility of a personal relationship with Jesus.  When I heard Roy Crowne preach about salvation and having a personal relationship with Jesus I suddenly knew I wanted that salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus more than anything else in the world.  Just as Jesus called his disciples from their fishing boats to enter into a personal relationship with him and follow him, so he was using the mouth of Roy Crowne to call me into a personal relationship with him and follow him.

It wasn’t enough to hear that call though; I had to do something about it.  Jesus had called me personally and that hit me right in the heart, but that wasn’t enough.  Jesus said to those disciples on the shore of Galilee, “Come, follow me.”  Now if they’d heard that call but stayed in their boats not much would have happened, other than Jesus going away disappointed.   When Jesus calls us into a personal relationship with him we need to do something, but what?  How do we enter into this personal relationship with him?  How do we go from knowing about him to knowing him personally?

The answer to this question is given in our passage.  Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news.”  This is what we have to do, not just once but continually throughout our lives.  We have to repent and believe the good news and ask Jesus into our hearts.  Repentance doesn’t just mean we feel a bit guilty about out sin and say sorry, it means changing direction in our lives.  Many people think they have repented when they’ve confessed their sins to God and asked for his forgiveness.  No, that is not repentance at all.  When we repent, when we truly repent we turn our lives away from all that is sinful, all that is unloving and against the will of God.    Repentance is turning our lives around and going off in another direction, in the direction Jesus leads us..    At Hollybush farm all those years ago I determined to turn my back on the wrong things in my life, make Jesus the Lord of my life and heart and obey him.  At Hollybush farm I really believed and understood for the first time the good news, that Jesus died on the cross in my place; that his resurrection proved everything he said was true and gives me the hope of eternal life.  At Hollybush farm I prayed and told Jesus I didn’t just want to know about him, I wanted to know him personally and follow him.

That prayer changed everything.  It’s hard to explain exactly what changed, but when I read the gospels I was no longer just absorbing facts, I was hearing Jesus speaking to my heart.  I truly felt I was getting to know the Jesus who is alive today, and not just a historical figure from long ago.  Simon and Andrew heard that invitation long ago from Jesus and accepted his call to follow.  Many men and women for the last two thousand years have heard Jesus call and experienced that personal relationship with him.  That personal relationship is available to any human being who is prepared to repent, believe the good news and follow Jesus.

But having repented and believed the good news and asked Jesus to our friend, what comes next?  What do we do as a result of our personal relationship with Jesus.  What does it mean?

Deciding to follow Jesus means that we decide to make him Lord of our lives and hearts.  It means that we obey him and try to live lives that are pleasing to God, lives that are full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

But there is more to following Jesus than just repentance and living as he would have us live.  There is more to the Christian life than worship and prayer, than reading the Bible and fellowship with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ, though all these things are important.  The clue to this is in our passage.  Jesus calls Andrew and Simon to, “Come, follow me”.  Following Jesus means entering into that personal relationship, it means praying and worship and all the rest.  But Jesus doesn’t just call those men to follow him, he adds, “and I will make you fishers of men”.  He doesn’t just call them to follow him; he calls them to perform a specific task for him, to become “fishers of men”.

Jesus has a specific thing, or things, which he wants each of us to do for him.  Sometimes he gives us a lifelong task.  Other times he gives us something he wants us to do for a short time before moving on to something else.  To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, “Some of us are called to be ordained as ministers, others to the office of local preacher; some are appointed to be Church Stewards whilst others are called to join the church choir or music group.  Still others are called to prepare food and drinks, to wash up or to set the chairs out for the service.  Others still are made to be pastoral visitors or to help in the church office or to be property stewards.”

When God created us he gave us each unique gifts and qualities that he wants us to use in his service.  The things we are good at give us a clue as to the specific task Jesus wants us to do for him.  Unless we are either very new Christians or unable to serve God through ill health or age, God has a very specific task he wants each and every Christian to do for him.  We cannot earn our salvation by working for God, of course, we must never forget that as salvation is a free gift from God to us; but we can show our gratitude to God by undertaking the task that Jesus gives to us.

What is God calling you to do?  God does not want any of us to just come to church on a Sunday, worship him, pray and listen to his word.  Yes he does want us to do that because he takes real joy and delight in our worship, but he also wants us to undertake the specific task he has for each of us.  Is God calling you to become a local preacher?  Is God calling you to offer your services as a worship leader?  Is God calling you to join the choir, or become a Church Steward, or join the catering team?  God calls each and every one of us to a specific task and If we are willing to undertake that specific task for him and ask him in prayer what it is he wants us to do, then he will make it clear to us.

Jesus said to the disciples, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  We are told that “At once they left their nets and followed him.”  It seems such a little thing to do to leave their nets and go with Jesus.  But what that passage is telling us is that they gave up being fishermen and followed Jesus.  They closed down their business and went and followed Jesus.  They gave up their livelihoods and went and followed Jesus.  Discipleship isn’t free; there is a cost to following Jesus.

Later in Mark’s gospel Jesus tells us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”  Jesus is totally honest with those who will follow him.  Our salvation a gift of God, there is nothing at all that we can do to earn it; but there is a cost to accepting that salvation by repenting and believing the good news and accepting Jesus invitation to “Come, follow me.”

The initial cost to Simon and Andrew was that they lost their fishing business, a guaranteed source of regular income.  Later they incurred a much greater cost as the result of following Jesus; according to Christian tradition it cost them their very lives.  The Apostle Paul paid a heavy price for deciding to heed Jesus’ call.  He suffered beatings and imprisonment, he was attacked by mobs and he too gave his life for Jesus.  History is full of examples of people who have paid the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus.  It is a fact that there were more Christian martyrs in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined.

We are relatively lucky in Great Britain at the moment.  It is highly unlikely that anybody here in this church today will have to give our lives for Jesus.  But being a Christian in 21st Britain isn’t always easy and we may have to make sacrifices or suffer for our faith in Jesus.  Some of us will have non-Christian friends and colleagues who will criticise us for taking a stand on certain issues that runs contrary to the dreaded politically correct attitude.  Those of us who believe in keeping Sunday special and think that only essential jobs should be done may suffer loss of earnings or pressure at work to conform and ‘do our share’ of Sunday working.  Christians are called to be holy, to stand apart from society and conform to what God wants, not to what society demands and society hates those who are different.  Even in this country it takes courage to be a Christian and can involves suffering as a result.

There is a price to pay for being Christian, but it is more than outweighed by the reward, the reward of being reconciled with God, the reward of a personal relationship with Jesus, the reward of eternal life.

Two thousand years ago Jesus called Simon and Andrew to repent and believe the good news.  He said to them, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Jesus calls us to repent and believe the good news, he calls us to follow him and enter into a personal relationship with him and he calls us to perform a specific task for him.  We must be ever ready to respond to his call and serve him, no matter what the cost to ourselves.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty.  Just as Jesus called to Simon and Andrew on the shore of Galilee to “Come, follow me”; so he has called each of us to come and follow him.  Just as Jesus gave Simon and Andrew the special task of becoming ‘fishers of men’ so he has called each of us to do a special task for you.    Please help us to know Jesus personally as our Saviour, Lord and friend.  Please strengthen us to serve you in our daily lives and to be faithful to Jesus calling, no matter what the cost to ourselves.  We pray in the name and for the sake of Jesus, our Lord.

Amen

A Reflection on St Mark’s Account of the Baptism of Jesus

Read: Mark 1: 4-11

 If you think back to Advent you may remember that we spent a week or two looking at the ministry of John the Baptiser.  We return to John again today, but this time to look at his baptism of Jesus. 

There are some things we don’t know about the baptism of Jesus’  We don’t know when he was baptised and we don’t know exactly where.  It was in the river Jordan, but the Jordan is 156 miles long, so we can’t be sure where.  To be honest when and where don’t matter, it’s what and why that matter. 

One thing we can be certain about is that it’s a historical event that actually happened.  Jesus was baptised by John the Baptiser in the river Jordan.  Even the most sceptical Biblical scholars agreed it as a genuine historical event. 

The reason for this is simple.  John’s baptism was all about the forgiveness of sins.  Put simply, if you heard and accepted John’s message of repentance followed by baptism for the forgiveness of your sins then you were baptised.  As one scholar, R. Alan Cole explains it, “Johns baptism was not Christian baptism and was not associated with gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It was an outward sign of agreement with John’s message and repentance of sins.” 

Because Jesus was understood to be without sin and perfect from the earliest days of the church the story of Jesus receiving the sinner’s baptism from John was at the very least an embarrassment.  Donald English expresses it this way, “it is a shock that the story of the baptism of Jesus by John is included at all.  That the one who came to be understood as sinless should submit to a rite directly related to repentance and cleansing is a sure sign of the authenticity of the event.” 

So, if Jesus was definitely baptised by John the Baptiser in the Jordan the big question is why.  Why did Jesus submit to the baptism of John? 

At this point in his life Jesus had, so far as we can tell, been running the family business in Nazareth, a combination of building and carpentry.  Then he felt God’s call; it was time, time to move from the relative obscurity of life in a tiny rural village to undertake the ministry he’d been born for. 

The emergence and preaching of John the Baptiser acted as a sign to Jesus that it was time for him to begin his ministry.  It was time to answer the summons and challenge of God his Father.  He did this very publicly by submitting to John’s baptism.  It was a sign of his obedience to God. 

Jesus baptism was a moment of identification for him.  Jesus did not need forgiveness of his sins because he lived a sinless perfect life; but John was leading a movement of ordinary people back to God and by being baptised he identified himself closely with that movement 

As leading Methodist Biblical scholar, Professor Morna Hooker writes, “The acceptance by Jesus of baptism at the hands of John is a necessary link between them and an acknowledgement of John’s preparatory role.  Moreover, the Messiah stands with his people, as well as over against them, and it is therefore essential that he join this movement which is concerned to break with Israel’s past disobedience and which looks for the Kingdom of God.” 

There is also a sense in which by submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus was identifying himself with the very sinners he came to save.  Jesus had no need to undergo a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, no need whatsoever, but he did so to show them that he too was human, subject to the same needs, desires and fears, but without sin.  This sharing in the lives of sinners is characteristic of Jesus’ ministry – he frequently shared meals with sinners and helped the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus never condoned anybody’s sin but neither did he reject anybody because of their sin. 

As Donald English wrote, “In baptism Jesus shares the circumstances in which people became aware of their needs, precisely in order to meet those needs.  He was to do that again and again in his ministry and supremely in his death and resurrection.” 

Jesus’ baptism was also a moment of approval.  Jesus felt called by God, he had decided on a course of action and was looking for his Heavenly Father’s seal of approval.  At his baptism Jesus submitted his decision to God and that decision was affirmed with those wonderful words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 

Nick Page, reflecting on this in his book The Wrong Messiah, writes, “At his baptism Jesus understood, as he had not done before, who he was and what he was here to do.” 

Finally, Jesus baptism was a moment of equipment.  We are told that “just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” 

Jesus needed the empowering of the Holy Spirit to undertake the Ministry his Father God had entrusted him with, just as we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our own lives to live as Jesus’ disciples. 

The fact that the Spirit came in the form of a dove shows us the kind of ministry Jesus had come to do and the kind of ministry we should be doing in is name.  The form of a dove suggests gentleness and love.  Jesus would win his final victory through love on the cross as he stretched out his arms and died for us. 

There was more than one good reason for Jesus to submit to the baptism of John and I’m sure that we have only covered some of them this morning. 

But how does any of this apply to our lives as Christian disciples?  As well as giving us greater insight into the mind of our Lord, what else can we learn? 

The baptism of Jesus was and is a unique event, but it can teach us something: obedience to the call of God on our own lives.  Just as Jesus journeyed from Nazareth to his place of baptism in answer to God’s call, so we can accept the call God places on our own lives. 

Those of us who were online last Sunday rededicated ourselves to the call of God on our lives as we made our Covenant promise together.  We dedicated everything we have and everything we are to the service of God.  We agree to hold nothing back from God. 

As dedicated followers of Jesus we must follow his example.  When God calls we must answer that call, not matter how difficult that call may make our lives, no matter how life changing it might be.  We must remember that part of the calling of all Christians is involvement in our community on behalf of Jesus, involvement in the messy, challenging and complicated things that are the lives of others.  We are not called to be Christians just to sit in our churches worshipping and enjoying the warmth of fellowship together, but to get out into the world and to make a difference for Jesus.  Finally, we are to do this with the gentleness and love so characteristic of Jesus’ own earthly ministry. 

Let us pray, 

Eternal Father,
at the Baptism of Jesus
you revealed him to be your Son
and anointed him with the Holy Spirit.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit
faithful to their calling as your people:
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Christmas 2020 Reflection

 Christmas 2020 Reflection

Even though I’m not a great singer, as anybody who has heard me singing on Zoom when I forget to mute can readily attest, I do love singing Christmas carols.  There is something about singing out loud the familiar tunes and words that brings me great pleasure, that fills my heart and soul with joy and helps me to feel that Christmas has truly arrived.

This year is different.  Due to the very sensible Covid-19 regulations around worship we are not allowed to sing those carols as congregations in our church buildings.  Yes, soloists and small socially distanced choirs can sing, but most of us can’t.

I have had the opportunity to sing some of the carols, at our Zoom Circuit Carol Service last Sunday, but even that wasn’t quite the same as singing them together in church.  Most of the time we are just reading the words or a screen whilst the organist is playing, or listening to others singing them, which has brought me a strange and unpredicted benefit…….

For the first time in several years I’m thinking more about the theology behind the words, the complex theology the words convey so simply and beautifully; and I’d like to share some of my thoughts with.  Don’t worry, I’m not going through every line of every carol, just a few highlights.

And don’t be frightened of by the word “theology”.  It just means thinking about God.

I’ll start with a line from my least favourite carol, Away in a Manger, a carol I dislike so much that I never choose it for services.  There is one particular line that really, really irritates me, “but little Lord Jesus no crying he makes”.  I’m sorry, but if a baby, any baby, is woken up by an unexpected noise that baby will cry.  Even the most perfect baby.  I’m assuming the intention of the anonymous writer of that line was to convey the sinless perfection of Jesus of Jesus, but he goes rather too far, elevating Jesus to something more akin to God pretending to be human rather than being fully human as well as fully divine.  Like any other baby Jesus cried, and he fed from his mother’s breast and he had the ancient equivalent of his nappies changed.  Yes Jesus was fully human and fully divine and yes he was perfect, but that fully human bit means the baby Jesus definitely cried.

Moving on alphabetically we come to our second carol, Born In the Night.  The line in this carol that particularly struck me this year was “Hope of the world, Mary’s Child.”  Hope of the world!  What our world needs right now is hope.

There is no denying that this year has been a difficult one for us all.  At the very least we have all been subject to two lockdowns when we have been largely restricted to our homes and we couldn’t gather together here in our building to worship.  Some of us have had Covid-19 and some of us have lost family or friends to the disease.  Some of us have had our Christmas plans to be with loved ones disrupted. Even now we know that all these things may continue into 2021 until enough people have had the vaccination.

We need hope, and not just the hope the vaccination brings, but a hope that will never fail us, a hope that is eternal, the hope of the world, Mary’s child, our Lord Jesus Christ.

O Little Town of Bethlehem has a similar line that conveys the same message, “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight”.

The circumstances of the birth of Jesus give us the assurance that God cares for all and that God loves all.  Nobody is too insignificant that God doesn’t love them.  Jesus was born to peasant parents, who probably just about had enough food, in the poorest of circumstances; in the common room in the home of a family member in Bethlehem where the animals were sheltered and fed.  His first visitors were shepherds.  They were not really the sort of people that would expect to be invited to be the first to visit the newly born Son of God.  Yet they were invited by angels to visit Jesus.

This hope of God’s care for and love of all was demonstrated throughout Jesus’ earthly life.  His disciples were fishermen and tax collectors and revolutionaries.  He spent most of his time with the ordinary people rather than with the religious leaders.  He ate with prostitutes, tax collectors and other sinners.  It wasn’t that the religious leaders weren’t also important to and loved by God: it was that everybody is loved by God.

There is another line in the carol Born in the Night that is relevant here, and that often hits us hard at Christmas:

  “You tell us God is good;  prove it is true, Mary’s Child,  go to your cross of wood.”

The death of Jesus on the cross is part of the hope that God brings at Christmas time because he loves us.  Jesus went to the cross of his own free will and gave his life for us, so that we can know forgiveness of all our sins, so that we can know God loves us.  Then Jesus rose from death, assuring us that we too will inherit eternal life of we follow him as our Saviour and Lord.

We need hope, and not just the hope the vaccination brings or that anything else on Earth brings, but a hope that will never fail us, a hope that is eternal, the hope of the world, Mary’s child, our Lord Jesus Christ who brings us forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  That is the hope we need and have, not just this year but every year until he comes again.

Which brings us to Hark!  The herald-angels sing, a carol by Charles Wesley and like many of his best hymns absolutely crammed full of stuff about God..  We have the confirmation of Jesus’ fully human and fully divine nature, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see.  Hail, the incarnate Deity!’  More on that later.  We also see confirmation of the hope Jesus brings, “born that man no more may die” which in less gender exclusive language means born that all genders no more may die but be given the life that is never ending.  Hark!  The herald-angels sing is my favourite carol to sing, but it’s not my favourite carol.

My favourite isn’t one that many would choose their favourite, but its mine because of the depth of theology (thinking about God) in its five verses.  The carol is Let earth and heaven combine and the line I want to reflect on is, “our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man”: a good summation of John 1: 1-14:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God;  all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.  He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.

The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.  He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.  He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father." RSV

This is what Christmas is really all about, “our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man.”

The Message version of the Bible gives us some understanding here: “The Word became flesh and moved into the neighbourhood.”  For me this really drives home just what happened on that first Christmas morning.  God himself became flesh and blood.  God became just like us.

As a baby Jesus was just like any other baby, completely helpless and dependent on his earthly parents for everything.  Jesus needed feeding, and in those days that meant breast feeding, a very intimate moment between mother and child.  Jesus needed burping, he needed cuddles and kisses and, yes, he needed his dirty, smelly nappies changing.  This is what incarnation means: God becoming like us in every way.

When we really think about what happened in Jesus, that the eternal Word of God became fully human as well as fully divine, then we begin to appreciate the humility of our God in becoming a helpless baby.

When we think about the babe of Bethlehem we cannot do so without the shadow of the cross intruding.  God, in Jesus, was not born just to die: he was born to show us what a fully lived, loving, self-giving human life really looks like.  He was born to show us what God us truly like and to teach us the truth about real love.

But it was also Jesus destiny to die on a Roman cross and then to rise from the dead so that we can be sure our sins are forgiven and have eternal life.

All this God did for us!

I used to be uncomfortable with any mention of the Crucifixion at Christmas, because to me it spoilt what I had always been taught was a time of great peace and joy:  but we celebrate Christmas only because of the cross and resurrection and they do indeed belong together.  God’s saving work began in Bethlehem, but it finished on the Calvary cross.

Just a few reflections on a few lines in a few of our many carols.  It’s interesting where God, by the Holy Spirit, can lead our thoughts when we think about the meaning of some carol words.

If you have some time this Christmas you might like to spend time thinking about the meaning of the words in some of our carols, about what they tell us about God and just how much God loves us.

I’ll leave you with one or two suggestions to get you started:

“Enter then, O Christ most holy; make a Christmas in my heart”. Cradled in a Manger Meanly

“What can I give him, poor as I am?”  In the Bleak Midwinter

“Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine”. Love Came Down at Christmas

“cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today”. O Little Town of Bethlehem

I finish with some words from yet another carol:

Jesus is the heart of Christmas,

  give the Lord his rightful place!

  Jesus is the heart of Christmas

  welcome him with love and praise.

May I take this opportunity to pray that you have happy and blessed Christmas and New Year.

A Christian Reflection for Remembrance Sunday

 Micah 4:1-8

Matthew 5:1-12

Reflection 

For many of us Remembrance Sunday is a time of looking back to the past, of remembering those who gave their lives in war, believing that the sacrifice they offered was for the greater good. 

Here in Accrington there are constant and appropriate reminders of those young men called the Accrington Pals: in the name of the health centre, in the name of a café in the market and in other places in the town.  Quite rightly we remember the sacrifice of those brave young men and we mourn their loss.

As a Minister I have, of course, preached before on Remembrance Sunday, and yet my mind goes back to my childhood and three particular memories related to this day. 

My first memory is of the very first time I went to the Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial in Poulton Le Fylde.  I was eight years old and had just joined the Cub Scouts.  In those days cubs had to wear grey shorts as a part of the uniform.  We had to march from our church to the War Memorial, about the same distance as from here to Accrington Cemetery, on a bitterly cold and windy day.  My legs were covered in goose bumps and I was shivering.  As we marched along I heard a little old lady in the crowd watching us march by say, “Isn’t it nice to see little boys in short trousers.”  We’re in church and I’m a Minister so I can’t repeat the thoughts that went through my mind at that moment! 

My second memory is of being a little older and asking my granddad why he never went to the War Memorial on Remembrance Sunday.  He had fought in the Second World War and for part of the war was in charge of one of the big guns in the desert.  In all the time I had known him he had never talked about the war and I’d found out what he’d done from my grandma.  When I asked him the question he was quiet for a long time and then he said that he didn’t go because he just wanted to forget about the war, that he found thinking again about the friends he’d lost and the people he’d killed too painful.  He understood why others took part in the Act of Remembrance, but he just didn’t want to. 

My third memory is of a school history trip to Belgium to visit some of the sites and museums associated with the First World War.  I have many memories of that trip, but my abiding memory is visiting one of the WW1 cemeteries and seeing row upon row of simple white headstones, each one representing the life of a man who was brave enough to lay down his life for the freedom of others.  Standing amongst those graves, even as a fifteen year old, gave me a profound respect for the bravery of those who gave their lives in war and an absolute conviction that war is a terrible, terrible thing and that we, the human race, must do all we can to ensure that we have peace in our world and that war, any war, becomes a thing of the past.

As a child I naively thought that wars were something that belonged in the past; that surely human beings were now too civilised to even think that war could ever be an answer.  Then along came the Falklands War and the wars against Iraq and Afghanistan and so many other conflicts.  I now wonder sometimes if it is even possible for human beings to share a planet without going to war with each other.

I wonder that as a human being with all my doubts and fears and yet when I turn to the word of God in Scripture I know that there will indeed come a time when human beings will be able to live together in perfect peace.  I know it as surely as I know anything, because the word of God is true and our faithful God can be completely relied upon to do all He has said He will do. 

In our Old Testament reading the prophet Micah looks forward to the future, to a time when God will rule the world from Jerusalem.  It looks forward to a time when there will be no more war, when, as he poetically writes, “they will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”  This will be a time when “nation will not take up sword against nation nor will they train for war anymore.”  There will no longer be any need for war and conflict because God will “judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.” 

Micah 4:4 gives us a lovely vision of that peace; telling us “every man will sit under his own vine, his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.”

We know this to be true because Micah tells us, “the Lord Almighty has spoken.”  God only speaks truth.  If God tells us it will happen then it will happen.  The word of God is a cast iron guarantee that we should never, ever doubt. 

This vision in Micah, given to the prophet by God himself, is a vision of the future, of the time predicted when Jesus will return, when heaven and earth will be united, and God will live with his.  This will be an eternity of peace and blessing and war will be forever ended.

This is the eternity described at the end of the Book of Revelation.  In chapter 21 we read, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

“There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”  This is God’s promise for our future.  There will be no more war because “no more death or mourning or crying or pain”. 

God’s promise to us for the future when God renews heaven and earth.  No more war.  Everlasting peace!  God has promised it.  It will happen 

But what about the time in between now and the promised future of peace to come?  How are we to react as Christians to conflicts in the present age? 

In our Gospel passage we read that Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.”  It is important for us to notice that Jesus said ‘peacemakers’ and not ‘peace lovers’.  A peace lover is somebody who will do all they can to maintain the peace and will even allow a dangerous and threatening situation to develop because they do not want to take any action.  Peace makers are those who face situations of conflict and war, whether in personal relationships or between nations; and do all they can to take the action the situation demands.

Peace makers can be soldiers and sailors and airmen.  I am sure that my Granddad would have much rather been at home in Poulton Le Fylde than firing that big gun in the Sahara desert.  He joined the army and went because he believed that the only way there could be a peaceful world at that time was by fighting to oppose the Axis powers.  The Accrington Pals and all those men whose bodies lie under those white headstones in Belgium went to fight in the trenches not because they loved war but because they loved peace and wanted to fight for the restoration of a peace that had been taken from them. 

Peace makers are called ‘children of God’ because they are joining in with the mission of Jesus.  At the heart of all human conflict is sin, a selfish desire to have what we want without putting the needs of others before our own.  Jesus came to our world to show us the ugliness of sin and the beauty of a life of love that is lived in worship of God and service to others.  Jesus knew what it was to be a peacemaker because he came to bring peace between human beings and God and gave his own life on the cross to bring that peace.  When we act as peacemakers, even at the cost of our own life, we are faithfully following Jesus’ example.  

There are still wars in our world today.  There is civil war in Syria and other armed conflicts all over our world.  It is right that we hope for a world where war is no more, it is a Christian hope and it is the will of God expressed in scripture.  At the same time it is right that we remember this day with thankfulness those who have given their lives, both those in the military and civilians, that we might enjoy the relative peace we have now until that time comes when we will live in the peace of God forever.

Home Service Sheet 23rd August 2020

INTRODUCTION

In todays’ service sheet we focus on Peter’s recognition of Jesus as Messiah and ask the question, who do we say that Jesus is?


CALL TO WORSHIP

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
  
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

  let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

For the Lord is a great God,
  
and a great King above all gods.

In his hand are the depths of the earth;

    the heights of the mountains are his also.

The sea is his, for he made it,

 and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
O come, let us worship and bow down,
  
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!


StF 46 “Everlasting God”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjOLDaSfIHQ



Prayer

Almighty and Loving God,

we come before you now,

at different times and indifferent places

to offer you our worship and praise,

to pray to you
And to hear your word for us.

Lord, unite us as sisters and brothers in Christ,

separated by time and place,
But united in our love for you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.



HYMN:  STF  15 “The Splendour of the King”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKLQ1td3MbE



PRAYERS

Adoration

Gracious and loving God,
we have come together
in all our different places and circumstances
to worship you, to praise you and to adore you.

We worship you as the source of all things.
Without you there would be nothing,
with you there is everything
for you are the ground of all being.

We worship you as Father and Mother,
a divine parent who cares for each of us
as your precious children,
who you nurture, teach and love,
forgiving our mistakes
and giving us eternal life.

We worship you as Christ,

The Lord and Saviour of our world:
God and man, fully divine and full human,
the Good Shepherd, the Bread of Life,
the Light of the World, the True Vine,
the Way, the Truth, the Resurrection and the Life.

We worship you as Holy Spirit,
as our Counsellor and Guide,

Dwelling within us and showing us
the way to live and love.

To you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
the ground of all being,
belongs all worship, praise and adoration forever.
Amen.

Confession
Almighty God, loving and forgiving,
we come to make our confession.

We confess all the times our actions or inactions have hurt others.
We confess all the untrue and hurtful words we have spoken.
We confess our unloving and unforgiving thoughts.

Forgive us, loving God,
for the sake of Jesus who died for us,
and hep us to obediently and joyfully serve you,
this day and forever more.  Amen.





READING:  Matthew 16: 13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.


HYMN:  STF 363 “My Jesus, My Saviour”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqSQvoinDE4



SERMON

Most people can point to significant turning points in their lives, to a time or times in their lives when things really changed.

I remember the big turning points in my own life; the day I asked Susan to marry me and she said yes, the day I gave my life to Jesus at Hollybush Farm Christian Fellowship in the Yorkshire Dales and the day I was ordained as a Presbyter in Coventry Central hall.

Our gospel account this morning marks several turning points:

It is a turning point in Matthew’s gospel, the lynch pin of the gospel if you like.  It marks the moment in history when Jesus was first acknowledged by another human being as Christ.

It is a turning point in the life of Jesus.  Before this time he seems to wander around somewhat at random, healing people, teaching large crowds and enjoying good company.  After this Jesus spends much more time alone with just the twelve disciples, teaching them about his suffering and death as he sets off towards Jerusalem.

It is a huge turning point in the life of Peter.  Knowing who Jesus was made a huge difference to him.

So, Jesus asks his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”  This is one of the most important questions ever asked in whole history of human race.  Jesus asked it of the twelves and asks it of us today.  “Who do you say I am?”

Various answers have been offered by people to that question over the years.  There are hundreds of books published today with ideas about who Jesus was – it nearly is always ‘was’ too, few will admit the truth that Jesus is still alive with God in heaven.

Some say Jesus never existed, but they are in a very small minority.

Some say Jesus just a gifted teacher like the Buddha, or Mohammed.


Some say that Jesus a prophet.  Muslims say he is indeed a prophet second only to Mohammed.

Some say he was a political revolutionary whose main aim was to overthrow Romans, and he was executed as a revolutionary.

I think that there are many ideas and theories about Jesus because truth too uncomfortable for many.  If Jesus was and is who he said, the Son of God who died on the cross for forgiveness of sins, rose from the dead to bring the assurance of eternal life and ascended to heaven then that is the most important thing in the world.  It means we have listen to what he says and live the lives he would have us live, selfless lives full of giving, self-sacrifice and love.  Many don’t want Jesus to be who he really is because he is too challenging, so they come up with all sorts of ideas about who he might have been to avoid the very real and uncomfortable truth; that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose from the dead.

Who do you say Jesus is?

Peter was certain who Jesus was.  In answer to Jesus question he replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”   As a result of this Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah!  For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.  And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.”

What did Jesus mean by this, and how does it apply to us today? William Barclay calls these verses “one of the storm centres of New Testament interpretation.”

It is possible to understand this passage as meaning that the rock is the truth that Jesus is the Son of the living God.  The truth that Jesus is the Son of God is indeed the foundation stone of the church’s faith and belief.

Another way to understand these verses is that the rock is Peter’s faith.  It was from that faith that Peter preached on the Day of Pentecost, the day the church was born in Jerusalem.

The final way to understand it is that Peter himself is the rock, but in a special sense.  The rock on which the church is founded is, of course, Jesus Christ himself.  Peter, in his first Letter, writes of Jesus in these terms, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.”  The words of a hymn also come to mind: “The churches one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Peter is the rock in the sense that he is the first person to profess faith in Jesus: the first person to declare that Jesus is the Son of the Living God, the first Christian, in fact!  In that sense the church is built on him.  What Jesus said to Peter was: “Peter, you are the beginning of the new people of the Lord, the new fellowship of those who believe in my name.”

There is something helpful in all these understandings.  Peter’s faith in Jesus is the faith we should all share as Christian believers.  When Jesus asks us “Who do you say I am?” we too should be replying “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”  That statement is the foundation of our faith, the rock on which we should be building our lives; the faith that, like Peter, we should be proclaiming to others in our words and deeds and our very lives!



HYMN:  STF 331 “King of Kings, Majesty”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnuRIdNwiwg



PRAYERS

Please use the suggests headings as areas for your prayers of concerns.

Let us offer our prayer with all God’s people|
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
who ever lives to pray for us.

We pray for the needs of the world….

We pray for your church….

We pray for all in trouble or distress….

We pray for all who make a new beginning today…..

God of compassion and mercy,
listen to our prayer.
May what we ask in Jesus Christ your Son
be done according to his word who said,
 “Ask, and you will receive,
 seek, and you will find,
 knock, and the door will be opened to you,”

To you, merciful God,
through your son,
in the lifegiving Spirit,
be glory and praise forever.  Amen.



HYMN: STF 317 ‘At the Name of Jesus”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4d4UXSJXig



BLESSING

May the love of the Lord rest upon your soul.
May his love dwell in you throughout every day.
May his countenance shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May his Spirit be upon you as you leave this place.
And may the blessing of Almighty God,  Spirit, Son and Father,
be with you all,
this day and for eternity.  Amen.

Home Service Sheet - 16th August 2020

HOME SERVICE SHEET
16th August 2020


INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our Sunday worship.  This mornings service is based around the Lectionary gospel reading outlining Jesus encounter with the Canaanite woman.

CALL TO WORSHIP

Psalm 67
May God be gracious to us and bless us
 and make his face to shine upon us,

that your way may be known upon earth,
 your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
 let all the peoples praise you.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
 for you judge the peoples with equity
 and guide the nations upon earth.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
 let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has yielded its increase;
 God, our God, has blessed us.
May God continue to bless us;
 let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Click the link below to hear our opening worship song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTX3djRl44


HYMN:  StF 82 “How Great Thou Art”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GKhDCsLrUg



PRAYERS

Loving God,

we lift our arms in praise to you,
  we lift our hearts in love for you,
  and we raise our eyes to adore you.

You are our God, the only true God,
  the God who created our world;
  the God who called Abraham and Sarah to go to the land you would give him,
  the God who called Moses and Miriam to lead your people to freedom:
  the God who still calls people today.

You are our God, the only true God,
  the God who came to our world in Jesus,
  the God who taught, healed and worked miracles,
  the God who went to the cross so we might know forgiveness,
  the God who rose to new life, assuring us of our eternal life.

You are our God, the only true God,
  the God who comes to live with us,
  the God who is our Counsellor and Guide,
  the God who is our power and our strength.

You are our God, the only true God,
  we lift our arms in praise to you,
  we lift our hearts in love for you,
  and we raise our eyes to adore you.
This day and forever more.  Amen.



HYMN:  StF 421 “Empty, Broken, Here I Stand”

We sing our confession this morning in. the words of this hymn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72204B7fgqU



READING:  Matthew 15: 21-28

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.  Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.”

He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.



HYMN:  StF 277 “My Song is Love Unknown”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNN9DBobCdw



SERMON

There’s easy no way around it, our gospel passage for this morning is a difficult one to read and a difficult one to hear.

A Canaanite woman comes to Jesus for help because her daughter is possessed by a demon.  The disciples ask Jesus to tell her to go away.  We expect Jesus to help her straight away, but he doesn’t.   Jesus basically says I was only sent to help Jews and goes on, by implication, to call her a dog.  Eventually, because of her faith, Jesus is persuaded to heal her.  On the surface it doesn’t portray Jesus in the best light; but as if often the case with the Scriptures we need to dig beneath the surface.

Jesus was in the district of Tyre and Sidon, a place Jews seldom went to.  We are coming near to the end of Jesus’ life here and the commentaries suggest that he went there with his disciples for a time of quiet; to spend time preparing himself and his disciples for Jerusalem and the cross.  In that region Jesus wouldn’t be bothered by the hostility of the Scribes and Pharisees and he could take a rest from the demands for healings and casting out demons.  Jesus wasn’t running from anything but he sought a time of quiet to prepare himself and his friends for the coming spiritual battle.

But even in Tyre and Sidon Jesus wasn’t left alone.  As he and his disciples were walking along the road the Canaanite woman came to them, persistently shouting, ““Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

The disciple’s reaction is fairly typical of them and where they were in their spiritual development.  ““Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us” was the demand they made of Jesus.  They had little compassion for the woman and her daughter; she was just a nuisance they wanted rid of as quickly as possible.

Do we ever feel that way about people who come to us for help?  That knock on the door from a friend with an urgent problem when we are halfway through a meal.  That late night phone call from somebody who needs us to come out and help them?  The person in the street who asks for help when we are in a hurry to get somewhere?  How do we react to them?  How do we react when we are busy or tired or just want some time to ourselves and somebody needs our help?

And so we come to Jesus; and I have no doubt that he was moved with love, pity and compassion towards the Canaanite woman. But he had a dilemma.  Jesus understanding was that his Father had sent hm to the Jews and that was who he should focus his time and energy on.  Yet here was a Canaanite woman who showed the beginnings of faith in God and had a daughter in need.  How could he not help to bring a true and living faith to her.

So Jesus turned to the woman and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Now, when this passage is read out in church this sentence is often delivered in stern, judgemental tones; but what if Jesus said it lightly and playfully?

Then Jesus said, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”  We don’t know the tone of voice Jesus used or the expression on his face.  It could have been said lightly and Jesus could have had a smile on his face.  In fact, given what we know about the character of Jesus isn’t this much more likely?  Isn’t it incredibly likely that Jesus was smiling as he said it, urging her to go on?

And the Canaanite woman does.  “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”  What a demonstration of faith!  By calling Jesus “Lord” she is equating him with God.  By mentioning the crumbs, she is demonstrating faith that even the smallest bit of his power is enough.

The Canaanite woman has come to the faith that Jesus knows she needs.  We can just see Jesus’ eyes lighting up with joy as she speaks and show such great faith.  We can see the smile on his face and hear his pleasure in the comforting words Jesus speaks, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”

Jesus sees a woman in need.  He doesn’t reject her as his disciples wanted him to do.  But neither does Jesus just heal her.  He does heal her, but he also brings her to faith in him.  Jesus sees both her need for her daughter’s freedom from demon possession and her greater need for faith in him.

How often do we help people both physically and spiritually?  How often do we bring people to faith in Jesus?



HYMN:  StF 685 “In Christ there is No East or West”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNRyGGSOQLQ



PRAYERS OF CONCERN

In peace let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For the peace that is from above
and for our salvation,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For the peace of the whole earth,
and for life and unity of the Church,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

That we may worship God
in spirit and in truth,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For all ministers of the Church
and the whole company of God’s people>
For Rev Louise and the people of Bright Street Methodist Church,
following the recent break in and vandalism.
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For the Governments of the nations
that they may seek justice and peace for all people,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For our own country and local community,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

For the sick and afflicted,
let us pray to the Lord.

Lord have mercy.

Almighty God,
to whom our needs are known before we ask,
help us to ask only what accords with your will:
and those good things which we dare not
or in our blindness we cannot ask,
grant us for the sake of your Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who taught us when we pray to say:

The Lord’s Prayer


HYMN:  StF 327 “Jesus is King”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6WnLnaQUes



PRAYER & BLESSING

May the God of love
stir up in us the gifts of his grace
and sustain each of us
in our discipleship and service;
and the blessing of God,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
remain with us forever.  Amen.

Negatively Commenting On the Appearance of Others

 One of the things that has been on my mind lately is the compulsion some people seem to have to comment negatively on the appearance of others; to comment on their clothing choices, to comment on the length and style of their hair, to comment on whether or not they choose to wear makeup...... the list goes on.

My train of thought started with Boris Johnson and his comments a couple of years ago on a minority of Muslim women who choose to wear the niqab.  He disparaging comments were both uncalled for and unnecessary.  If Muslim women choose to wear the niqab or the burka, and it is their own free will choice not forced upon them by anybody else, then surely that is their own business.  There can be no possible reason for commenting on it.

I then moved on to thinking about hair length.  I sometimes have my hair reasonably short, but at other times grow it longer.  I happen to like it longer even though there isn’t a lot of it left on the top, it expresses my personality.  In my previous appointment there were people at one of my churches who would actually tell me it was time to get my hair cut; as if it was actually any of their business.  The length of my hair, or indeed other aspects of my appearance, are completely irrelevant to how I serve as a Church Minister.

Today I read the following on Twitter:

“Doing my makeup on the train this morning and a random man told me he likes a woman to have a more natural look. I told him I like men to have a more silent look.”

Why did this “man” feel the need to comment on a complete stranger putting on her makeup?  What business was it of his?  He is entitled to his opinion, of course, but why did he feel the need to express it?

I have literally lost count of the number of times I have heard people critcise the appearance of another, and sadly it happens in churches too.  A few years before I was ordained I heard a new Minister’s wife being criticised because she turned up for her first Sunday at church in a jumper and jeans, instead of the kind of smarter attire the vast majority of that church’s ladies favoured.  I’m told by reliable people that there was horror amongst some when I turned up to church in my thirties one Sunday without wearing a tie!

How about we all just stop making negative comments about the appearance of others? Seriously.  Just stop!  It doesn’t really achieve anything except to upset and hurt the person about whom the comments are made.  People think that criticising what other people wear is harmless, that they are “just expressing their opinion”, but it can cause emotional and mental damage and see that person repressing their true personality, the personality they are expressing through the way they dress, style their hair, choose their makeup etc.

Some who do this will defend the practice by saying they are just trying to help the person concerned: to help them look better etc..... Look better by whose standards?  In whose opinion?  It’s all subjective.

If you can’t same something nice about another’s appearance , why say it at all?