Friday 30th October 2020 – Hebrews – More on Redemption

Hebrews 2: 10-18

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

‘I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, 
    in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.’
And again,
‘I will put my trust in him.’
And again,
‘Here am I and the children whom God has given me.’

Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.  For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.

Reflection

Eight  words: “Like his brothers and sisters in every respect”  [verse 17]. Yet so significant. Years of doctrine and dissent, creeds and Christology, argument and antagonism and theology on an industrial scale – so much packed into so short a sentence. Who is this risen Jesus? Is he just a ghostly spirit or flesh and blood? Is he for real here and now? The questions have been debated for centuries and the answers are central to the truth or otherwise of the Gospel. The author of Hebrews put it to his fellow Greek speaking sophisticates quite simply – “He too shared in our humanity”.

They lived in a world where they believed angels and devils, principalities and powers ruled under God, and often made a mess of it. The ultimate beauty and perfection of creation was spoilt. That’s why bad things happened. We don’t believe in that anymore. We believe in GDP, Market Forces, global warming and social revolution, and all the nonsense tomorrow’s tricking and treating will bring when it is saints we should be remembering, not ghostly apparitions. The world is still in a mess and not the better place we believe it could be. Into the middle of this imperfection comes the perfect figure of Jesus Christ: conceived, born, crucified, dead and buried – and then risen, not as a ghost or a spirit or an angel, but as a flesh and blood human being like the  rest of us. In sharing our physical humanity he affirms that God rules and redeems the human race, and Christ is still one of us despite the mess we make of it. Eight  words in eight short verses, affirming that he is the way, the truth and the life – and that’s salvation in a nutshell.
 
 Prayer
 
Come my way my truth my life
Such a Way as gives us breath,
Such a Truth as ends all strife,
Such a Life as killeth death.
                                                George Herbert

Thursday 29th October 2020 – Hebrews – Redemption from Christ

Hebrews 1: 5 – 9

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

‘What are human beings that you are mindful of them,
    or mortals, that you care for them?
 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;
    you have crowned them with glory and honour,
subjecting all things under their feet.’

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,  but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Reflection

How many churches talk about angels these days? Admit it: to most of us sophisticated and rational human creatures, angelology in our churches is one of those irrationalities we hide under the rugs. Yet in the 21st century angels still matter to people. From pop songs calling their lover “angel” to the ubiquitous cards, angels continue to hold sway over our subconscious, religious or not.

In the Abrahamic religions, angels have historically been the basis of wars and at the same time markers of our interconnectedness.

The loved one who describes their deceased beloved as an “angel” or that they have been “taken up to the angels” is particularly present in times of grief. Angels have not lost their ability to change the course of events and to impress our imagination. Many have a closer connection to an angel than they will have to God.

The writer of Hebrews is neither challenging or encouraging a belief in angels. He is distinguishing Jesus from an intermediary messenger. We now have a direct line to God through Jesus.

Hebrews has been called more of a sermon than a letter, and I once heard a pastor in Nashville define preaching as “braggin’ on God”. I like that definition. We don’t know who wrote Hebrews, but I feel their passion and joy in this commentary on Psalm 8 and when the writer proclaims that Jesus comes to us, not as an angelic being, but as one of us. In spite of us, God’s plan is fulfilled through Jesus for us. The writer is braggin’ on our dark-skinned Palestinian liberator. Theologians call it “high Christology”; my pastor in Nashville would say the writer is gloating on tiptoe!

It is the passion and joy in our proclamation and maintaining close proximity to our experience and identity with Jesus which allows the church to persevere. Jesus must always be the main attraction!

Prayer

We look to other thrones to lead us, and far-away beings to love us, when The One who will truly save us meets us where we are.  Be our King, Jesus. But more importantly, be our Kin, Jesus. Amen.

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Wednesday 28th October 2020 – Hebrews – An Exhortation

Hebrews 2: 1 – 4

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.  For if the message declared through angels was valid, and every transgression or disobedience received a just penalty,  how can we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was declared at first through the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard him,  while God added his testimony by signs and wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, distributed according to his will.

Reflection

At the end of this passage we get a wonderful summary of what we might call God’s self-revelation. God has been revealed to humanity both in the person of Jesus Christ and in the testimony of those who encountered Jesus in the flesh (recorded for us in the Gospels), and we can see God today in the gifts we are given by the Holy Spirit. God is not far off and distant, but close to us. However, I’ve missed something out here that troubles me – signs, wonders and miracles. Are miracles a problem for modern Christians? They certainly can be. If we insist that a belief in miracles is necessary to be a Christian we force people to make a false decision between believing in God and believe in science. If we define a miracle as an event which breaks the scientific rules of the universe* then I’m certain I’ve never witnessed one, and I’ve never come across a convincing account of a miraculous event. For me – and you may well believe something different – miracles are not a part of my faith. Insisting on the literal truth of the miracles in scripture means reading the gospels as straightforward history, as journalism rather than poetry. What if we read the miracle stories as theology packed with deep symbolism, stories which explain Jesus to us rather than relate a literal truth? For myself, I believe that there is a God who knows and loves me and was born on the earth as a vulnerable human being, and that in itself is absolutely miraculous enough without, like Alice, adding more impossible things to believe before break God is always beyond our complete understanding. (If you are reading this before breakfast, I hope you enjoy it.)

*See David Hume, ‘Of Miracles’ – Section X of An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding. https://davidhume.org/texts/e/10

Prayer

Loving God,
we give thanks to you today, and all days,
that you came to pitch your tent among us,
to show us that you love us.
We give thanks for the gifts we receive from you
and remember just how amazing and miraculous is your grace.
Amen.

Tuesday 27th October 2020 – Hebrews – The Son Above The Angels

Hebrews 1: 5 – 14

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

‘You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you’?

Or again,

‘I will be his Father,
    and he will be my Son’?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

‘Let all God’s angels worship him.’

Of the angels he says,

‘He makes his angels winds,
    and his servants flames of fire.’

But of the Son he says,

‘Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever,
    and the righteous sceptre is the sceptre of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.’

And,

‘In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
    and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
    they will all wear out like clothing;
like a cloak you will roll them up,
    and like clothing they will be changed.
But you are the same,
    and your years will never end.’

But to which of the angels has he ever said,

‘Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?

Are not all angels  spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Reflection

“You know how Jesus is the Son of God and the son of Mary?” The four-year-old at my church is in a questioning mood. “So that means he is a demi-God like Hercules!”  No amount of argument dislodges the little one from his newly formulated theory today, but he’ll understand given time.

The Hebrews reading this letter love Jesus; they are impressed by him, honour him, and follow him. But still they need to be shaken out of the idea that Jesus is an angel. Perhaps it is hard for us to imagine Jesus as ‘just another angel’ or angel-in-chief, but a 2nd century Jewish-born Jesus follower would know that the angels of Genesis 6 are described as sons of God. They might know well the variety and apparent hierarchy of angels in the Bible. They might know that angels are unable to eat food (see Judges 13 and the book of Tobit). Gospel-writer Luke seems to know these angel traditions and is very careful to show how Jesus, even once resurrected, eats and drinks unlike the angels (Luke 24:41-43).

We can assume that these Hebrews are also deeply aware of the monotheistic claim that our God is the only God, a jealous God, who does not share the status of God with any other. The writer wants them, and us, to understand that Jesus, as Son of God and heir of God, is sharing God’s throne – that God and Jesus act as God together. To summarise these verses is to undersell them, but the thrust is that Jesus is above every angel, is seated on God’s throne (not below it), and is eternal. Like God. Being God. With God.
Perhaps these arguments seem strange today, if it is some time since you first became convinced that Jesus is more than a prophet, not merely a good man, and more interesting than Hercules. Imagine sitting down with a child who wants to understand what Jesus is – how would you answer?
 
Prayer

In this hymn prayer, first translated to English by D. T. Niles, the chant “Saranam” means finding refuge and surrendering to God. For the tune and a modern translation see https://music.churchofscotland.org.uk/hymn/573-saranam

Jesus, Saviour, Lord, to thee I fly;
Saranam, Saranam, Saranam;
thou the Rock, my refuge that’s higher than I:
Saranam, Saranam, Saranam.
In the midst of foes I cry to thee,
from the ends of earth wherever I may be;
my strength in helplessness, O answer me:
Saranam, Saranam, Saranam.

Monday 26th October 2020 – Hebrews – The Final Revelation of God’s Glory

Hebrews 1: 1 – 4

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,  whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Reflection

The letter to the Hebrews is a one-off surprise book of Scripture.  

No introduction, no greetings, no information about who is writing it or why it’s being written?  Not really a letter at all, really?  Just ‘bang’ straight into the text, the argument, the message. 
 
And what a message!  It’s almost as if the writer hasn’t got the time or patience for such niceties and just wants to jolly well get on with telling the reader about the main and sole topic of the letter i.e. Jesus?

The book is effectively a bridge between the apparently very different Covenants recorded in the Old and New Testaments, with that same Jesus portrayed as the new, better and perfect Covenant … and then excitedly, though methodically and logically, telling us how God’s Covenant is fulfilled in Jesus.  

The one who is the ‘very imprint of God’s very being’ is portrayed as the  absolute supreme person in all the holy writings that make up our Scriptures:  Greater than Moses and the other Prophets, superior to Angels, higher than any High Priest … and how the death on the cross was a greater-that-ever-before and a once-and-unrepeatable Sacrifice.  

Welcome to the breathless excitement of the Letter to the Hebrews!

Prayer

As we start our journey into the writer’s understanding of your Son, Jesus the Christ, may our hearts and minds be opened to the mystery, wonder and glory of you as Creator and Covenant-setter, Saviour and ever-present Comforter.  Amen 

Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 25th October 2020

 

 

The Rev’d Jayne Taylor

Introduction 

Hello, my name is Jayne and until recently I was minister to three churches in the Cotswolds. At present I’m on Sabbatical and speaking from my home in Cirencester.

Call to Worship 

The wisdom of God calls to us, from the heights, along the paths, and at the crossroads. Come into God’s presence to worship, sing, and pray.

From our scattered places we come. Let us worship God.

Gather Us In

Marty Haugen 1982 © GIA Publications

Here in this place, new light is streaming,

now is the darkness vanished away.

See, in this space, our fears and our dreamings,

brought here to you  in the light of this day.

Gather us in the lost & forsaken,

gather us in the blind & the lame.

Call to us now, and we shall awaken,

we shall arise at the sound of our name.

2: We are the young our lives are a mystery,

we are the old who yearn for your face.

We have been sung throughout all of history,

called to be light to the whole human race.

Gather us in the rich and the haughty,

gather us in the proud and the strong.

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly,

give us the courage to enter the song.

3: Here we will take the wine and the water,

here we will take the bread of new birth.

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters,

call us anew to be salt for the earth.

Give us to drink the wine of compassion,

give us to eat the bread that is you.

Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion

lives that are holy and hearts that are true.

4: Not in the dark of buildings confining,

not in some heaven, light years away,

but here in this place, the new light is shining;

now is the Kingdom, now is the day.

Gather us in and hold us forever,

gather us in & make us your own.

Gather us in all peoples together,

fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

Prayers of Confession and Forgiveness

Loving Gracious God. You are the one true God, there is no other, almighty Creator, merciful Christ, everlasting Comforter. You alone are worth our worship. Everything we have, everything we experience, everyone we know comes from you.

Yet Lord, we acknowledge our ungratefulness and confess that we all fall short of your purposes for us. If we say we are without fault, we deceive ourselves and, we deceive you. And Lord we accept responsibility for the consequences of sin in this world, for all the pain and the suffering, for all the injustice. 

We admit that we have hurt others, sometimes deliberately, and by doing so, have hurt you. We have also contributed to the pain and suffering of others by our silence and our inaction. 

Lord, we cry out to you for forgiveness. And even though we don’t deserve your love and your forgiveness, you give it to us. Help us to accept your forgiveness, your gift of grace given freely to us. We thank you and praise you because at the very heart of your character is love. 
 

And that love was shown to us by and through your son, Jesus Christ, and as he taught us, so we now pray…

Our Father…

Readings

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18   

The LORD said to Moses, speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

‘Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.

‘Do not go about spreading slander among your people.’ Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life. I am the LORD.

‘Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in his guilt.

‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the LORD.

St Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ He said to him, ‘“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:  ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’  He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,  “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’”?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Brother, Sister Let Me Serve You

Richard Gillard (b 1953) © Integrity Music Inc

Brother, sister, 

let me serve you;

let me be as 

Christ to you;

pray that I may 

have the grace 

to let you be 

my servant too.

2. We are pilgrims 

on a journey,

and companions 

on the road;

we are here to 

help each other

walk the mile 

and bear the load.

3. I will hold 

the Christlight for you

in the night time 

of your fear;

I will hold my 

hand out to you,

speak the peace 

you long to hear.

4. I will weep 

when you are weeping;

when you laugh 

I’ll laugh with you;

I will share your joy 

and sorrow,

till we’ve seen this 

journey through.

5. When we sing to God in heaven,
we shall find such harmony,

born of all we’ve known together
of Christ’s love and agony.

Sermon

I guess we all have our own image of what Jesus is like. To many, he’s white, European looking with shoulder length brown hair and piercing blue eyes. I guess all of us see Jesus as we think he ought to look. 
 

I remember spending time in India a few years ago, and on one occasion I ventured into a Hindu Temple. The first thing my eyes laid upon was a picture of Jesus. It was the Sacred Heart painting, if you know what I mean. Here was a very Western-looking Jesus surrounded by very Indian imagery.  It was quite a shock. 

Today I hope I can challenge some of our assumptions about Jesus; his mission and his character. 

To put the Matthew reading in its context, we should really start in the previous chapter. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, on a donkey, crowds cheering, palms waving. And what’s the first thing he does? He confronts the moneychangers in the temple courts, overturns their tables and tells them to get out.

Surely not gentle Jesus, meek and mild, as the hymn goes…

He starts healing and preaching and the chief priests and elders confront him. “”By what authority are you doing these things?” they ask. In other words, “Just who do you think you are?” 

Jesus responds with three parables that directly attack their leadership. He tells them to their faces that the Kingdom of heaven will be taken away from people like them and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild…

The Pharisees try to trap Jesus by asking him if it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. If he says it is right to pay taxes, then they will accuse him of betraying his people by agreeing to finance the Roman oppression. If he says it is wrong to pay taxes, he will be charged with tax evasion and sedition. What does he do? He asks them to show him a Roman coin and asks them whose face is on it. They have a coin, Jesus doesn’t. 
 

The coin bears Caesar’s image, of course, probably Tiberius, and the inscription would have read: “son of the divine Augustus” They are immediately undone by showing him that they are carrying around an idol, dedicated to a son of a god. Jesus tells them to render, literally to pay back to Caesar what is his and to render to God what is rightfully his. What is Caesar’s, his taxes, what is God’s, everything, our whole lives.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild…

Next, the Sadducees try to trap him with a question about resurrection and the afterlife, they didn’t believe in it, and he silences them.

Then the Pharisees have one more go at him, that’s where we come in. You can see a pattern emerging here, I hope?

They ask him, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Sounds like a reasonable question to ask you might think? But we know that they’re trying to trap him, so what are they playing at?

In order to understand that, we have to think about just who the Pharisees were. They were a Jewish group who believed passionately in the Law, or Torah, and its application in every circumstance. In this respect, Jesus could easily have been part of that group. But they sometimes took this to extremes, and applied the Law as legal requirement, rather than as a gift of love from God. 
 

Remember in John’s gospel, it was the Pharisees who brought the woman caught in adultery to Jesus asking him whether she should be stoned. Their response would, no doubt, have been at odds with Jesus’.
 

So, if you had to pick one Law which was the greatest, then loving God seems like a pretty safe bet, doesn’t it? 

It comes from Deuteronomy and is commonly called the Shema: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might”. Every Jewish person would memorise the Shema as a child.

The Pharisees were obviously expecting this answer, so why was it a trap? I believe they were ready with a reply. I think they were going to say something like, “we love God by obeying all his commandments – why don’t you? Why do you challenge us? Do you not love God?”
 

But before they have the chance, Jesus tells them what the second greatest commandment is. It is to “love your neighbour as yourself”, which comes from our Leviticus reading. 

Jesus goes on to say that all of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. In other words, without love for others as well as love for God, adherence to all the other laws was futile. In their endless arguments over which law took precedent over another in particular situations, they had left out the most important – love. And in the words of Peter, “love covers a multitude of sins”. It was a stinging attack on them.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild…

As if that wasn’t enough, Jesus then asks them a question. Now this is bad news, for them at least. Whenever Jesus asks someone a question, you know that he is going to challenge their worldview.

He asks what seems to be a straightforward question, “whose son is the Messiah”. They reply that he is the son of David. Their assumption is that the Messiah would be like a warrior king, another David, who would lead them in battle against the Romans to free them from oppression. 
 

Jesus then gives a reply, which gets a little lost in translation but bear with me. 

Jesus quotes Psalm 110, a Psalm attributed to David, as saying “the Lord said to my Lord”. 

The point is that the first of the two Lords is God. But if the first Lord is God, then who is the second Lord in this verse?  It cannot be a second god, because the Hebrew Bible makes it clear that there is only one God.  It cannot be David’s son, because David would never refer to his own son as Lord.  The only possibility, then, is that the second Lord of Psalm 110 is the Messiah of God, who is not David’s son but David’s Lord, someone greater than David.  

Therefore, the Pharisees, these highly trained religious experts who tried to embarrass Jesus, are wrong when they answer that the Messiah is David’s son.

This all sounds very technical and dry to us, but to the Pharisees it would have been an absolute bombshell. Could they be wrong about Messiah? It’s no wonder that from that day on, we are told, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild…

The story doesn’t end there. If you read the next chapter of Matthew there is a section which is often described as the seven woes,  because it’s a withering attack on the Pharisees in which seven times Jesus starts, “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees”. In six of these outbursts, the next word is hypocrites! His charge is that they say one thing and do another, that their faith is skin deep, in other words.

You see, if we are to love God, then that love has to be real. And if that love is real, then it will naturally overflow into a love for our neighbour. In Luke’s account of this scripture, Jesus is asked “Who is my neighbour”, and goes on to give the parable of the Good Samaritan. Our neighbour is not only the person who lives next door to us or even those people we like. Anyone who is in need is our neighbour and is to be loved.

I believe there are Pharisee-like people, as Jesus saw them, in the Church today. These are the people who delight in declaring who is in and who is out of the kingdom of God. People who will sing ‘all are welcome’ in the church, when they mean ‘people like us’ are welcome in the church.

It’s important, I think, that we see people as God sees people, and we need to see God in others; those from all the corners of this earth, those who society looks down upon, and sees as being ‘less’. Only when we can do that can we say that we truly love the lord our God with all of our heart, our soul and our mind.

Lord of Creation

Jack Copley Winslow (1882-1974)

Lord of creation, to you be all praise!

Most mighty your working, most wondrous your ways!

Your glory and might are beyond us to tell,

and yet in the heart of the humble you dwell.

2: Lord of all power, I give you my will,

in joyful obedience your tasks to fulfill.

Your bondage is freedom, your service is song;

and, held in your keeping, my weakness is strong.

3: Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind,

rich truth that surpasses our knowledge to find.

What eye has not seen and what ear has not heard

is taught by your Spirit and shines from your Word.

Affirmation of Faith

Do you believe in the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects, and cares for the Church through Word and Spirit. This God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end. We do

Do you believe that God is the One who wishes to bring about justice and true peace among people. We do.

Do you believe that God, in a world full of injustice and enmity, is in a special way the God of the destitute, the poor, and the wronged? We do.

This is the faith of the Church!  We are proud to confess it in Jesus Christ, our Lord.   Amen.

Offertory 

Loving God we thank you for the many blessings you give us. We owe you everything we have. Help us to in turn to give back a token of your love for us in the giving of our time, our efforts and also in our offering, as we seek to love our neighbour as we do ourselves. May our money be used wisely, we ask, in Jesus’ name. Amen

Intercessory Prayers

Gracious God,

as your Jesus reached out to those on the margins,

so now in our prayers we do likewise:

We pray for all who have little love in their lives

those who are lonely and isolated,

those who are addicted and feel trapped,

those who grieve and mourn,

those whose relationships have been shattered.

Loving God,

We pray for those who love things which are unhelpful

those who worship their wealth or possessions, and where greed has taken over,

those who find love only in the approval of others, in flattery, or in power,

those who can only love themselves

those for whom bitterness and hatred reign

Compassionate God,

We pray for those who give totally of themselves for the sake of others

those who are persecuted or outcast

those who face prejudice because of the colour of their skin, 

those who face discrimination because of their gender 

those who face harassment for their sexuality

Merciful God,

help us to strive to see others as you see us, 

help us to reach out in love to our neighbour

help us to live as Christ would have us live 

help us to walk the way of Jesus

As we ask these things in his name, Amen.

When I needed a Neighbour

Sydney Carter © 1965 Stainer & Bell,

When I needed a neighbour,

were you there, were you there? (repeat)

And the creed and the colour 

and the name won’t matter,

Were you there?

2: I was hungry and thirsty,

were you there, were you there?

3: I was cold, I was naked,

Were you there, were you there?

4: When I needed a shelter

Were you there, were you there?

5: When I needed a healer,

Were you there, were you there?

6: Wherever you travel, I’ll be there, I’ll be there.

Wherever you travel, I’ll be there.

And the creed and the colour And the name won’t matter,

I’ll be there.

Blessing

May the God in whose image we are made,

Strengthen us in our struggle,

Embrace us in our weakness,

And inspire us with hope for a different future:

As we work, separately and together

For the freedom of the whole creation.

Amen 

Sources, Copyright and Thanks

Sources

Call To Worship from Worship Aids for the Revised Common Lectionary from the Presbyterian Church of the USA

Affirmation of Faith from selected sections of the Belhar Confession of Faith.

Blessing from Encircled in Prayer by Jan Berry

All other prayers by Jayne Taylor

Copyright and Performance

Here in This Place by Marty Haugen (b1950) © 1982 GIA Publications sung by the composer.

Brother Sister Let Me Serve you by Richard Gillard (b 1953) © Integrity Music Inc, sung on the BBC’s Songs of Praise.

Lord of Creation by Jack Copley Winslow performed by Song leaders from Granite Bay and Sacramento Central Seventh-Day Adventist Churches

When I needed a Neighbour by Sydney Carter sung by Dominic Kelly and the St Martins Church Choir on the BBC’s Songs of Praise.

Where words are copyright reproduced under the terms of Barrhead URC’s CCLI licence number 1064776

Thanks To…

Jonnie Hill and Adam Scott, Ruth and Kingsley Browning, Phil, Lythan and Carys Nevard for recording the Call to Worship and Affirmation of Faith, and to John Young, Kathleen Haynes, Carol Tubbs, Anne Hewling, and John Wilcox for recording other spoken parts of the service.

Opening Organ Piece Prelude in E Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach

(organ of The Spire Church, Farnham – 2020)Closing:  Trumpet Voluntary in D by John Baston (organ of Basilica Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy – 2016)  Both played by Brian Cotterill.  http://briancotterill.webs.com

Sunday 25th October 2020 – Psalm 20

May the Lord God hear you pray,
may God’s strength be yours today;
may God bless you from above,
lifting up your heart in love.

2 May God give you all you need,
may God make your plans succeed;
may God guide you all your days,
filling all our hearts with praise:

3 Now we see the Lord can save,
now the trembling heart is brave;
now we know that Love will hear:
worship now, for God is near!

After Psalm 20, Michael Perry (1942 – 1996)
© Mrs B Perry/Jubilate Hymns

You can hear the first verse here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZxhjVF1vOI

Reflection

Many years ago – before phones had cameras, even before mobile phones were smaller than half a brick – there had been a wonderful sunset which the preacher next evening asked if we had seen?   “You know” he said “My Dad made that”.   Murmurings ranging from laughter to what’s he talking about ensued.   

A few days later we were doing a class room talk when there was a flash of lightening and crash of thunder at the same time.   A young teenager at the table where I was shrieked in terror and disappeared under the table.   She was not easy to coax out but eventually she held my hand and I said “It’s okay, my Dad made that”.   She was so taken back that she crawled out and we had a conversation about God our creator.  

This hymn makes my heart light and want to laugh as we had on the evening of the sunset.  As much as the beauty of nature uplifts our spirits it is “My Dad made that”.    The blessings asked for in this hymn God gifts and grants.  We can only sing “May the Lord hear you pray” because God made us with the ability to pray and so will hear prayers.  The final verse affirms that we know God saves, we can know this because we feel, see, touch the love of God at the times when we are strengthened even as we hide under the table.  “My Dad made that” –  we worship and know that God is near.    

Prayer

Lord, Creator, in this strange year when our world changed and continues to change as much as it has in the 150 years since phones were invented, we question why you made that.  So much suffering, grief and misery, how can we say “My Dad made that”?   The Psalm says “The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!”  All we can do is cling to that promise waiting, trembling and sometimes fearful, until we find you are near.  Amen 
 

Saturday 24th October 2020 – 2 Thessalonians – Final Words

2 Thessalonians 3: 16 – 18

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Reflection

There is very little written about these last three verses, but as I sat here pondering, the phrase that kept standing out was “I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write.” 

The words and phrases we use, often tell the story of where we have come from and where we have travelled. I originally grew up in Birmingham but have lived in many places and travelled a little and I often forget that sometimes the words and phrases I use don’t compute in other places. I was on the phone to a friend the other night we were talking about what we had for dinner, I said “I had belly draft with rice and veg” and my friend replied “what on earth is belly draft?” and I’ll be honest I was stumped because it what I had always called it. My friend googled it and exclaimed “oh, you mean belly pork!” we then discovered that the phrase I used is a Midlands name for this meat. 

Paul is explaining that he will always write in this style when writing to the Thessalonians so they know the letters are genuine and that they can depend on the contents of them to steer them true in the faith. The words & phrases we use matter, they can create connection or disconnection between God and ourselves and God and others. God offers us peace, but we have to take it, God offers connection, but we have to accept it. 

Paul’s writing is not always comfortable, and there are many that wrestle with some of the things he is attributed with saying, but like all of Scripture, the message flowing through is one of truth and love.

Prayer

Intimate God, we know your voice deep in our heart, but often ignore or bury it, help us reconnect to that recognisable song that guides and guards us through life. Amen
 

Friday 23rd October 2020 – 2 Thessalonians – Don’t be Idle

2 Thessalonians 3: 1 – 15

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you,  and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.  And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command.  May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are  living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us.  For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you,  and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.  This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate.  For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat.  For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.  Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.  Brothers and sisters,  do not be weary in doing what is right.

Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.

Reflection

Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians offer insight into some misunderstandings that might trouble a community of new Christians. Paul and Silas established the church at Thessalonica just a year or so before writing, and these new Christians were still learning the fundamentals. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus had taken place only about 20 years earlier, so it was all very recent (20 years ago today? That was only the turn of this century!) Perhaps it’s not too surprising that there was confusion, including so-called false teachers who peddled fake news about Christianity causing some of the Christians in Thessalonica to give up work. Those Christians lived in idleness, supported by wealthy patrons and Paul was not impressed. Paul expected Christians to earn their own living. He wouldn’t tolerate idleness. “If you won’t work, you don’t eat!”

As I write, we are making our way out of lockdown, and facing an unknown ‘new normal’. Lockdown has been a period of intense work for some, and enforced time-off for others. It’s meant high anxiety for many, especially those who were furloughed, lost their jobs and consequently lost some or all their income.

Paul is quite clear that he is talking about people who are unwilling to work – very different from those who are unable due to previously unimaginable circumstances.

Whilst he expected to support himself, we know that when he lived in Thessalonica, Paul accepted offerings and support from the Christians in Philippi (Philippians 4: 15-16) and in the first letter to Thessalonians, he urged people to care for each other (1 Thessalonians 5: 14).  

Today Paul’s approach is as important as ever; we must be willing to work, and as Christians we must support those who are still suffering after Lockdown or other unexpected events, and finally, like Paul, we must graciously accept occasional support for ourselves.

Prayer

Lord,
Help us to be willing to work
to make our own living,
and feed our families.
Help us to support those who are unable to work
due to circumstances they can’t control.
Not just financial support
emotional support too.
And Lord, help us to graciously accept
that sometimes we too need support.
We pray this in the name of Jesus,
Amen