Updated: 4 months 2 weeks ago
Sunday Worship 1 December 2024
96
Sunday Worship 1 December 2024
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Worship Services from the URC
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Order of Service
Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 1 December 2024
The First Sunday of Advent
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome
Songs, poems, and writing all have multiple ways of interpreting them. Bono, from the band U2, wrote the song Tomorrow about those who had died in the Troubles in Northern Ireland – the black cars at the side of the road and the knock at the door – but later realised he’d been writing about his mother’s funeral. She died when he was just 14. Generations of Christians have heard another meaning in the song – about Jesus’ return – with the final words about opening ourselves up to the love of God.
Advent has multiple meanings too. The Church offers us this season where we focus on Jesus’ return at the end of time with readings about preparation and apocalypse. Yet we light our candles counting down to Christmas and busy ourselves with present-buying, card-posting, and the shock-inducing experience of paying for postage stamps!
My name is Andy Braunston and I’m the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship. I live in the beautiful island county of Orkney off Scotland’s far north coast where the weather often means we won’t be coming back until tomorrow!
We come to worship thinking about Jesus’ return at the end of time even as we are thinking about our Christmas preparations. So, let’s join in with our Call to Worship together.
Call to Worship
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? There’s much to be done – sea levels rise, wars wage, the poor are on the move displaced by conflict, persecution, and famine, undeterred by the borders we erect. Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? There’s sickness, corruption, and danger all around us; who will tear down the barriers we erect? Who will stand up for justice? Who will bring healing for the wounds and scars of life? Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? Our schools and public buildings are crumbling, governments are in disarray, our civic life is devalued and there’s no sense of direction. Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Maybe you won’t come back tomorrow, Lord! Maybe your silence should inspire us to act to change our world and proclaim your coming Kingdom. Maybe the needs of our world cry out for us, not you, to act! Help us to make our world fit for you tomorrow Lord.
Hymn Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending
Charles Wesley (1758) Public Domain, sung by Maddy Prior
Lo he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinner slain!
Thousand, thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
God appears on earth to reign!
Ev'ry eye shall now behold him,
robed in dreadful majesty,
those who set at nought and sold Him,
pierced and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of his passion
still his dazzling body bears,
cause of endless exultation
to his ransomed worshippers:
with what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture,
gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, amen let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne!
Saviour, take the power and glory;
claim the kingdom for thine own.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Everlasting God come down.
Lighting the First Advent Candle
And so, we light our first Advent candle reflecting on Paul’s words in the letter to the Thessalonians which we’ll hear a little later on.
Yearning God,
You draw close, aching to hold us in Your love;
teach us to follow Your paths of justice and faithfulness.
Show us Your ways that we may be strengthened in holiness
as we await our redemption which draws ever nearer. Amen
Prayers of Approach, Confession, & Grace
Eternal One,
we come to worship You today
with the needs of the world and of our own lives pressing upon us;
a world in need of redemption,
warring peoples needing peace,
injustice feeding terror,
and the nations in need of healing.
Everlasting God come down and put things right.
Approaching God,
as once you came to the poor and excluded,
we long for You to come again;
to remind us of Your ways,
to establish Your Kingdom,
to lift up the poor,
to send the rich away empty,
and to establish righteousness and justice.
Everlasting God come down and put things right.
Healing One,
as we yearn for our world to be put right,
we become conscious of what is not right within us,
as well as what is wrong in our world;
give us insight, self-awareness, and the ability to change,
that as we turn back to You we gain the strength,
to see where you have, Everlasting God, already come down,
and how You urge us to put things right.
Holy Trinity,
give us the grace to receive the forgiveness you offer
and the courage to forgive ourselves, Amen.
Introduction
Both our readings today are about hope – but we may not quite get this at first hearing. Paul writes to a group of day labourers in Thessalonica who had converted to Christianity longing to be able to visit them again, urging them to grow in love for each other that they may be holy and ready when the Lord comes again. Our Gospel reading has a graphic description of Jesus’ return – a description which clearly inspired Wesley in the hymn Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending – offering us hope as our redemption draws near. So, we pray asking for God to enlighten us as we hear truth proclaimed in ancient words.
Prayer for Illumination
How can we thank you enough, O God,
for the ways you reveal Yourself to us?
We perceive You in the natural world and created order,
in ancient words which are ever new, and, above all in Jesus Christ.
Open our hearts and minds now, O God,
that as we hear we may understand and follow. Amen.
Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Hymn When the King Shall Come Again
© Christopher Idle/Jubilate Hymns Ltd OneLicence A-734713. Sung by Christ Church Woodley Virtual choir & band and used with their kind permission.
When the King shall come again all his power revealing,
splendour shall announce his reign, life and joy and healing:
earth no longer in decay, hope no more frustrated;
this is God's redemption day longingly awaited.
In the desert trees take root fresh from his creation;
plants and flowers and sweetest fruit join the celebration.
Rivers spring up from the earth, barren lands adorning;
valleys, this is your new birth, mountains, greet the morning!
Strengthen feeble hands and knees, fainting hearts, be cheerful!
God who comes for such as these seeks and saves the fearful.
Deaf ears hear the silent tongues sing away their weeping;
blind eyes see the lifeless ones walking, running, leaping.
There God's highway shall be seen where no roaring lion,
nothing evil or unclean walks the road to Zion:
ransomed people homeward bound all your praises voicing,
see your Lord with glory crowned, share in his rejoicing!
Reading St Luke 21:25-36
Jesus said: "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Sermon
There’s hope in our world even though it doesn’t seem like it but there again there’s hope in our readings today even though, at first hearing, we may not be entirely convinced!
It is thought that the first letter to the Thessalonians was Paul’s very first letter. It was written to a group of day labourers who heard Paul preach and were converted. As day labourers they’d have had a precarious existence never knowing if they’d get work tomorrow. Today’s passage reveals various tensions in this early congregation.
First, there’s the issue of the coming again of Christ. Later in the letter, in chapter 5, there is more focused teaching on Christ’s coming; it clearly was a concern for this group of believers. Indeed, this letter was written long before the Gospels even though we are used to thinking the Gospels were written first. In fact the letters came firs and then, as the first eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry were dying, came the Gospels. It was important, then to make what Luke called “orderly accounts” of the stories they had. They’d not done this before as the task of preaching the Gospel before Jesus’ return was so vital it superseded any other task. By the time the apostles were dying it was clear the Lord’s return wasn’t imminent. But at the point where Paul was writing the Second Coming was a very real hope and expectation in the Early Church.
Paul didn’t press the fact Jesus had already come to this group of new believers; he didn’t stress the Cross nor what Christ had achieved but, rejoiced in their newfound faith and in the faith that would yet come. Paul is concerned, with this group of believers, about what Christ will do – strengthen their love for each other and making them holy and prepared for when Christ comes.
Salvation, here then, is a future not a past act. That’s a tension with contemporary Christianity influenced by a few hundred years of evangelical theology from Wesley onwards where we’re often asked to reflect on having been saved when we responded to Jesus’ call to follow him; yet passages like this, which imply a salvation still to come, are a counterbalance to the idea that we’re already saved. Like the Kingdom which has come but is still coming, salvation has started but is not complete. Like Advent when we’re invited to focus on Jesus’ coming again even as we prepare to celebrate his coming amongst us so long ago we live with paradoxes and tensions.
There’s another tension in Thessalonians where Paul uses the term ‘Lord’ for Jesus Christ. It’s a term which is widely used in the Christian tradition and is preserved in much of the Church’s liturgy as well as in the New Testament. It’s so familiar to us we don’t give it much thought. Yet the term is deeply subversive. Kyrios, or Lord was a term used with great tension in the early Church as at the time Paul was writing the term referred to the Emperor. So, Christians had to use the term to mean both Jesus and Caesar and the assertion that only Jesus is Lord meant that Caesar isn’t. Rulers tend not to like hearing that their authority is questioned or limited so this was a political tension for the early believers. They proclaimed a Kingdom not fully arrived, a salvation not fully complete and a Lord who wasn’t the emperor. Further, the type of lordship that Jesus was lived was one based on simplicity, weakness, love, and kindness not overbearing male power. It’s all confusing counter cultural stuff.
The most pressing theme, however, in the passage is, as we said at the start, that of hope;
Those precarious day labourers were offered hope by Paul; hope that the Lord Jesus would come, hope they’d be ready to meet him, and a hope that through their own discipleship they’d find holiness. These aren’t bad hopes for us in our day.
It’s more of a struggle to see hope in our Gospel reading with all that strange language about Jesus’ return. It’s very dramatic; we’re not used to fear and foreboding in church these days!
The title “Son of Man” is often used by Jesus about himself in the Gospels. Some inclusive language paraphrases render this “Human One” but it’s so much more than that – it’s a title coming from the book of Daniel about one given power and dominion over nations and rulers. It’s a high Christological title every bit as telling as Paul’s use of ‘Lord’ but perhaps a little less confrontational as the Romans would have had to struggle to understand it; Jewish hearers, however, would have immediately grasped the allusion. What’s interesting, however, in the New Testament is the pairing of this title with the idea of suffering. It’s not all glory; or maybe glory is seen in suffering.
Jesus’ message of his return is so strange that it’s shaped in very odd language; the literary conventions of his age used such language when speaking of the end of time; it’s not possible to get a more prose like understanding of these events as it’s mystery and imagery. Once we’re used to the literary style we can focus on Luke’s point – hope. There will be painful things, there will be suffering, but there’s hope “salvation is drawing near”. Christians have been tempted to overlook the hope and take strange byways with this passage; some have been tempted to deny the world and become rather fanatical, others to despair, others yet to withdraw into alternative communities and watch the world go to hell in a hand basket. Instead, we are to hope.
We hope in a better future, we hope in Christ’s return when all shall be put right, we hope in the grace given to us to improve things now. We hope not in, as Marx put it, an opium of faith to dull the senses, but in the courage, energy, and vision given to us to both proclaim and work for the coming Kingdom.
We started the service asking Jesus to come back tomorrow and put all things right; yet we also know that since the Ascension it’s been over to us until Jesus returns. We may ignore the teaching on the Second Coming as, to be honest, the Church has been waiting for some time. We may long for the Second Coming as, to be honest, it lets us off the hook. So maybe it’s another tension to live with. Just as the early Christians had to understand ‘Lord’ in different ways, just as we know that Advent is about two things at once – looking back and looking forward, so we must live with a tension about mission. We’re called to love and embody God’s love in the world. We’re called to make changes, to make the world more loving, more just, more like the coming Kingdom yet, at the same time, we know these things won’t come until the End. Until then we’re called to both wait and work, hope and help. Let’s pray:
You probably won’t come back tomorrow, Lord, will you?
You probably won’t make everything right tomorrow;
yet as we wait we know that You call us
to proclaim and embody Your love, Your Kingdom, Your justice,
and Your message, today and tomorrow. Amen.
Hymn Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Charles Wesley (1744) Sung by Lythan and Phil Nevard and used with their kind permission
Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.
Affirmation of Faith
Since its earliest days the Church has proclaimed that: Christ will come again! In times of despair, doubt, and despondency God’s people have hoped: Christ will come again! Yet we’ve been waiting a long time. Advent after Advent we proclaim: Christ will come again! Yet, at the same time we’ve learned to live with views of power and glory where grace is costly and God is at work on the margins, with the weak and despised. If Christ does come again we’ll see him at work on the edge, with the poor and the least, showing us how to live and love with hope despite God’s silence. Only when we’ve learnt how to live as Jesus taught will Christ come again.
Intercessions
We bring our prayers before you, O God, that we may wait and work for your coming Kingdom.
Eternal One, we thank you for all that is good in our lives;
the beauty of our world, the love we share with friends and family,
the freedoms we enjoy to worship, love, and live as we please.
Yet as we thank You we remember those who aren’t free;
those persecuted for faith, politics, and love;
those living in fear that once precious freedoms will be removed.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Living Lord Jesus, may your joy abound in our hearts
as we pray, night and day, for your coming reign.
We may not see the signs in the heavens you spoke about,
but see plenty of signs in our world:
the rise, again, of dictators and those who envy them,
the mass movements of people, war and terror, ecological disaster.
We long for the joy you promise but live in the gloom of our realities.
Help us to speak truth even when inconvenient,
to lift up those oppressed by life,
and to challenge the unjust use of power wherever we encounter it.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Most Holy Spirit, strengthen our hearts in holiness
as we live and work in a confusing world
full of pain and praise, tragedy and beauty, failure and glory,
that we may become blameless before God.
Help us to be alert to the needs of our world, and of our community,
that we may respond to Your call to love
both as individuals and as a congregation,
showing your life and love as our redemption draws ever near.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Eternal Trinity, be with us this Advent as we look both forward and back,
to pray and work for the coming Kingdom as, with Jesus, we pray,
Our Father…
Offering
As we hope for better times we know we have to give. Not just in the frenzy of Christmas where giving can be difficult, but in our day to day lives where we give of our time and our talents as well as of our treasure. St Paul told us that God loves a cheerful giver, but often we can be a bit grumpy as we give! We complain about our busyness, our exhaustion and our bank balances yet, despite the grumbling we know there’s joy in giving. The face of a child on Christmas morning, the thank you of a friend, the kiss of a lover. And so we give, in joy and sometimes with grumbling, but together God takes our gifts, and our attitudes, and makes wonderful things. Let’s pray.
O God, giver of all that is good,
we thank you for the gifts given in this community
kindness to strangers, food to the hungry,
time to the lonely, a listening ear to the depressed
and the financial gifts to church and charity.
Bless our giving, O God, and bless us,
that through our lives and by Your will,
Your Kingdom will come. Amen.
Hymn The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
John Brownlie (1859 – 1925) Public Domain sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission
The King shall come when morning dawns
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.
Not as of old a little child,
to bear, and fight, and die,
but crowned with glory like the sun
that lights the morning sky.
O brighter than the rising morn
when He, victorious, rose
and left the lonesome place of death,
despite the rage of foes.
O brighter than that glorious morn
shall this fair morning be,
when Christ, our King, in beauty comes,
and we His face shall see.
The King shall come when morning dawns,
and light and beauty brings;
"Hail, Christ the Lord!" Thy people pray,
come quickly, King of kings!
Holy Communion
May God be with you | and also with you!
Lift up your hearts | we lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God.| It is right to give our thanks and praise!
It is right and just, our duty and our joy
always and everywhere to give you our thanks, Eternal One,
through Jesus Christ, Your word made flesh.
We look at the signs of the times
and see the earth and the heavens shaken
with the selfishness of human greed,
the drunkenness and dissipation of life and the worries of the world,
yet You teach us to be alert, have hope,
and to see our redemption drawing near.
And so with the angels and archangels
And the whole company of heaven we sing to your praise and glory:
The Ash Grove Sanctus
Michael Forster © 1995 Kevin Mayhew Ltd OneLicence # A-734713
O holy, most holy, the God of creation,
forever exalted in pow’r and great might.
The earth and the heavens are full of your glory.
Hosanna, hosanna, and praise in the height!
How blessed is he who is sent to redeem us,
who puts ev’ry fear and injustice to flight;
who comes in the name of the Lord as our saviour.
Hosanna, hosanna, and praise in the height!
In these days of Advent, Eternal One, we wait in joyful hope,
for the world to change, the Kingdom to come,
justice to be established, and Jesus to return.
We look back to Bethlehem’s cradle
and forward to the final consummation of all things
when all creation will be made whole,
the poor lifted up, the hungry fed, the oppressed run free,
and where, in Your presence, we will dance with joy.
Until then we wait and work for the coming Kingdom,
gaining strength and inspiration at Your table,
where, in obedience to Jesus’ command,
we show forth His sacrifice on the Cross
with bread broken and wine poured
for us to eat and drink.
For we remember that night, long ago,
when Jesus, gathered with his friends around a table,
and shared in the simplicity of a meal.
During that meal he took some bread, blessed it, broke it,
and gave it to his friends saying:
“this is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”
Then, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine,
said the ancient blessing, gave the cup to his friends and said:
“this cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.”
As we meet to share in this meal Jesus himself, risen and ascended,
is here with us - for we are gathered up into the heavenly places.
Jesus gives himself anew for our spiritual nourishment
and growth in grace.
So let us, together, affirm our faith:
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
Come Holy Spirit, on these gifts of bread and wine,
that they may be, for us,
a communion with the body and blood of Christ which we share.
Remind us we are Christ’s body and blood, his hands and feet
in our world until he comes again.
Unite us with the whole Church in heaven and earth,
as we gather here to present our offering of praise and thanksgiving
presenting ourselves again
rejoicing in Jesus’ promise to return in glory.
Through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
All glory and praise is Yours, Eternal One,
forever and ever, Amen.
God’s holy gifts are given for God’s holy people;
let us share and rejoice as we encounter the living God.
Music for Communion Creator of the Stars of Night
© The Order of St Benedict 1959 Sung by the choir of St John’s Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colardo and used with their kind permission. ONE LICENSE # A-734713
Post Communion Prayer
God of the signs of the times,
you draw near to us in word and sacrament,
to strengthen, renew, and enthuse us with the fire of Your presence.
Give us hope, that as we see our redemption drawing near,
we may abound in love for you,
for our sisters and brothers we know,
and for those we are called to serve but don’t yet know.
Amen.
Hymn Christ is Surely Coming
Christopher Idle © 1975, The Jubilate Group (admin. Hope Publishing Company) Reprint and Podcast permission under ONE LICENSE # A-734713 Recording from Jubilate Hymns and used with their kind permission.
Christ is surely coming bringing his reward,
Alpha and Omega, First and Last and Lord:
Root and stem of David, brilliant Morning Star:
meet your Judge and Saviour, nations near and far;
meet your Judge and Saviour, nations near and far!
See the holy city! There they enter in,
All by Christ made holy, washed from every sin:
thirsty ones, desiring all he loves to give,
come for living water, freely drink, and live;
come for living water, freely drink, and live!
Grace be with God's people! Praise his holy name!
Father, Son, and Spirit, evermore the same.
Hear the certain promise from the eternal home:
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come;
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Blessing
May the One who loved you since before the ages began,
the One who became flesh to show you how to live,
the One who burns with a power that drives change,
hold you in love, show you how to live,
and enable you to change the world,
and the blessing of God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Be with you, now and evermore,
Amen.
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Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 1 December 2024
The First Sunday of Advent
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome
Songs, poems, and writing all have multiple ways of interpreting them. Bono, from the band U2, wrote the song Tomorrow about those who had died in the Troubles in Northern Ireland – the black cars at the side of the road and the knock at the door – but later realised he’d been writing about his mother’s funeral. She died when he was just 14. Generations of Christians have heard another meaning in the song – about Jesus’ return – with the final words about opening ourselves up to the love of God.
Advent has multiple meanings too. The Church offers us this season where we focus on Jesus’ return at the end of time with readings about preparation and apocalypse. Yet we light our candles counting down to Christmas and busy ourselves with present-buying, card-posting, and the shock-inducing experience of paying for postage stamps!
My name is Andy Braunston and I’m the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship. I live in the beautiful island county of Orkney off Scotland’s far north coast where the weather often means we won’t be coming back until tomorrow!
We come to worship thinking about Jesus’ return at the end of time even as we are thinking about our Christmas preparations. So, let’s join in with our Call to Worship together.
Call to Worship
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? There’s much to be done – sea levels rise, wars wage, the poor are on the move displaced by conflict, persecution, and famine, undeterred by the borders we erect. Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? There’s sickness, corruption, and danger all around us; who will tear down the barriers we erect? Who will stand up for justice? Who will bring healing for the wounds and scars of life? Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord? Our schools and public buildings are crumbling, governments are in disarray, our civic life is devalued and there’s no sense of direction. Won’t you come back tomorrow, Lord?
Maybe you won’t come back tomorrow, Lord! Maybe your silence should inspire us to act to change our world and proclaim your coming Kingdom. Maybe the needs of our world cry out for us, not you, to act! Help us to make our world fit for you tomorrow Lord.
Hymn Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending
Charles Wesley (1758) Public Domain, sung by Maddy Prior
Lo he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinner slain!
Thousand, thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
God appears on earth to reign!
Ev'ry eye shall now behold him,
robed in dreadful majesty,
those who set at nought and sold Him,
pierced and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.
Those dear tokens of his passion
still his dazzling body bears,
cause of endless exultation
to his ransomed worshippers:
with what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture,
gaze we on those glorious scars!
Yea, amen let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne!
Saviour, take the power and glory;
claim the kingdom for thine own.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Everlasting God come down.
Lighting the First Advent Candle
And so, we light our first Advent candle reflecting on Paul’s words in the letter to the Thessalonians which we’ll hear a little later on.
Yearning God,
You draw close, aching to hold us in Your love;
teach us to follow Your paths of justice and faithfulness.
Show us Your ways that we may be strengthened in holiness
as we await our redemption which draws ever nearer. Amen
Prayers of Approach, Confession, & Grace
Eternal One,
we come to worship You today
with the needs of the world and of our own lives pressing upon us;
a world in need of redemption,
warring peoples needing peace,
injustice feeding terror,
and the nations in need of healing.
Everlasting God come down and put things right.
Approaching God,
as once you came to the poor and excluded,
we long for You to come again;
to remind us of Your ways,
to establish Your Kingdom,
to lift up the poor,
to send the rich away empty,
and to establish righteousness and justice.
Everlasting God come down and put things right.
Healing One,
as we yearn for our world to be put right,
we become conscious of what is not right within us,
as well as what is wrong in our world;
give us insight, self-awareness, and the ability to change,
that as we turn back to You we gain the strength,
to see where you have, Everlasting God, already come down,
and how You urge us to put things right.
Holy Trinity,
give us the grace to receive the forgiveness you offer
and the courage to forgive ourselves, Amen.
Introduction
Both our readings today are about hope – but we may not quite get this at first hearing. Paul writes to a group of day labourers in Thessalonica who had converted to Christianity longing to be able to visit them again, urging them to grow in love for each other that they may be holy and ready when the Lord comes again. Our Gospel reading has a graphic description of Jesus’ return – a description which clearly inspired Wesley in the hymn Lo He Comes With Clouds Descending – offering us hope as our redemption draws near. So, we pray asking for God to enlighten us as we hear truth proclaimed in ancient words.
Prayer for Illumination
How can we thank you enough, O God,
for the ways you reveal Yourself to us?
We perceive You in the natural world and created order,
in ancient words which are ever new, and, above all in Jesus Christ.
Open our hearts and minds now, O God,
that as we hear we may understand and follow. Amen.
Reading 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Hymn When the King Shall Come Again
© Christopher Idle/Jubilate Hymns Ltd OneLicence A-734713. Sung by Christ Church Woodley Virtual choir & band and used with their kind permission.
When the King shall come again all his power revealing,
splendour shall announce his reign, life and joy and healing:
earth no longer in decay, hope no more frustrated;
this is God's redemption day longingly awaited.
In the desert trees take root fresh from his creation;
plants and flowers and sweetest fruit join the celebration.
Rivers spring up from the earth, barren lands adorning;
valleys, this is your new birth, mountains, greet the morning!
Strengthen feeble hands and knees, fainting hearts, be cheerful!
God who comes for such as these seeks and saves the fearful.
Deaf ears hear the silent tongues sing away their weeping;
blind eyes see the lifeless ones walking, running, leaping.
There God's highway shall be seen where no roaring lion,
nothing evil or unclean walks the road to Zion:
ransomed people homeward bound all your praises voicing,
see your Lord with glory crowned, share in his rejoicing!
Reading St Luke 21:25-36
Jesus said: "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
Sermon
There’s hope in our world even though it doesn’t seem like it but there again there’s hope in our readings today even though, at first hearing, we may not be entirely convinced!
It is thought that the first letter to the Thessalonians was Paul’s very first letter. It was written to a group of day labourers who heard Paul preach and were converted. As day labourers they’d have had a precarious existence never knowing if they’d get work tomorrow. Today’s passage reveals various tensions in this early congregation.
First, there’s the issue of the coming again of Christ. Later in the letter, in chapter 5, there is more focused teaching on Christ’s coming; it clearly was a concern for this group of believers. Indeed, this letter was written long before the Gospels even though we are used to thinking the Gospels were written first. In fact the letters came firs and then, as the first eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and ministry were dying, came the Gospels. It was important, then to make what Luke called “orderly accounts” of the stories they had. They’d not done this before as the task of preaching the Gospel before Jesus’ return was so vital it superseded any other task. By the time the apostles were dying it was clear the Lord’s return wasn’t imminent. But at the point where Paul was writing the Second Coming was a very real hope and expectation in the Early Church.
Paul didn’t press the fact Jesus had already come to this group of new believers; he didn’t stress the Cross nor what Christ had achieved but, rejoiced in their newfound faith and in the faith that would yet come. Paul is concerned, with this group of believers, about what Christ will do – strengthen their love for each other and making them holy and prepared for when Christ comes.
Salvation, here then, is a future not a past act. That’s a tension with contemporary Christianity influenced by a few hundred years of evangelical theology from Wesley onwards where we’re often asked to reflect on having been saved when we responded to Jesus’ call to follow him; yet passages like this, which imply a salvation still to come, are a counterbalance to the idea that we’re already saved. Like the Kingdom which has come but is still coming, salvation has started but is not complete. Like Advent when we’re invited to focus on Jesus’ coming again even as we prepare to celebrate his coming amongst us so long ago we live with paradoxes and tensions.
There’s another tension in Thessalonians where Paul uses the term ‘Lord’ for Jesus Christ. It’s a term which is widely used in the Christian tradition and is preserved in much of the Church’s liturgy as well as in the New Testament. It’s so familiar to us we don’t give it much thought. Yet the term is deeply subversive. Kyrios, or Lord was a term used with great tension in the early Church as at the time Paul was writing the term referred to the Emperor. So, Christians had to use the term to mean both Jesus and Caesar and the assertion that only Jesus is Lord meant that Caesar isn’t. Rulers tend not to like hearing that their authority is questioned or limited so this was a political tension for the early believers. They proclaimed a Kingdom not fully arrived, a salvation not fully complete and a Lord who wasn’t the emperor. Further, the type of lordship that Jesus was lived was one based on simplicity, weakness, love, and kindness not overbearing male power. It’s all confusing counter cultural stuff.
The most pressing theme, however, in the passage is, as we said at the start, that of hope;
- hope Paul will be able to visit them again,
- hope that he may teach them to restore whatever is lacking in their faith;
- hope that God will direct their ways,
- hope that the Lord will increase their love for each other,
- hope that he may strengthen them in holiness so they’ll be blameless when Jesus returns.
Those precarious day labourers were offered hope by Paul; hope that the Lord Jesus would come, hope they’d be ready to meet him, and a hope that through their own discipleship they’d find holiness. These aren’t bad hopes for us in our day.
It’s more of a struggle to see hope in our Gospel reading with all that strange language about Jesus’ return. It’s very dramatic; we’re not used to fear and foreboding in church these days!
The title “Son of Man” is often used by Jesus about himself in the Gospels. Some inclusive language paraphrases render this “Human One” but it’s so much more than that – it’s a title coming from the book of Daniel about one given power and dominion over nations and rulers. It’s a high Christological title every bit as telling as Paul’s use of ‘Lord’ but perhaps a little less confrontational as the Romans would have had to struggle to understand it; Jewish hearers, however, would have immediately grasped the allusion. What’s interesting, however, in the New Testament is the pairing of this title with the idea of suffering. It’s not all glory; or maybe glory is seen in suffering.
Jesus’ message of his return is so strange that it’s shaped in very odd language; the literary conventions of his age used such language when speaking of the end of time; it’s not possible to get a more prose like understanding of these events as it’s mystery and imagery. Once we’re used to the literary style we can focus on Luke’s point – hope. There will be painful things, there will be suffering, but there’s hope “salvation is drawing near”. Christians have been tempted to overlook the hope and take strange byways with this passage; some have been tempted to deny the world and become rather fanatical, others to despair, others yet to withdraw into alternative communities and watch the world go to hell in a hand basket. Instead, we are to hope.
We hope in a better future, we hope in Christ’s return when all shall be put right, we hope in the grace given to us to improve things now. We hope not in, as Marx put it, an opium of faith to dull the senses, but in the courage, energy, and vision given to us to both proclaim and work for the coming Kingdom.
We started the service asking Jesus to come back tomorrow and put all things right; yet we also know that since the Ascension it’s been over to us until Jesus returns. We may ignore the teaching on the Second Coming as, to be honest, the Church has been waiting for some time. We may long for the Second Coming as, to be honest, it lets us off the hook. So maybe it’s another tension to live with. Just as the early Christians had to understand ‘Lord’ in different ways, just as we know that Advent is about two things at once – looking back and looking forward, so we must live with a tension about mission. We’re called to love and embody God’s love in the world. We’re called to make changes, to make the world more loving, more just, more like the coming Kingdom yet, at the same time, we know these things won’t come until the End. Until then we’re called to both wait and work, hope and help. Let’s pray:
You probably won’t come back tomorrow, Lord, will you?
You probably won’t make everything right tomorrow;
yet as we wait we know that You call us
to proclaim and embody Your love, Your Kingdom, Your justice,
and Your message, today and tomorrow. Amen.
Hymn Come Thou Long Expected Jesus
Charles Wesley (1744) Sung by Lythan and Phil Nevard and used with their kind permission
Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art;
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.
Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.
By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone;
by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.
Affirmation of Faith
Since its earliest days the Church has proclaimed that: Christ will come again! In times of despair, doubt, and despondency God’s people have hoped: Christ will come again! Yet we’ve been waiting a long time. Advent after Advent we proclaim: Christ will come again! Yet, at the same time we’ve learned to live with views of power and glory where grace is costly and God is at work on the margins, with the weak and despised. If Christ does come again we’ll see him at work on the edge, with the poor and the least, showing us how to live and love with hope despite God’s silence. Only when we’ve learnt how to live as Jesus taught will Christ come again.
Intercessions
We bring our prayers before you, O God, that we may wait and work for your coming Kingdom.
Eternal One, we thank you for all that is good in our lives;
the beauty of our world, the love we share with friends and family,
the freedoms we enjoy to worship, love, and live as we please.
Yet as we thank You we remember those who aren’t free;
those persecuted for faith, politics, and love;
those living in fear that once precious freedoms will be removed.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Living Lord Jesus, may your joy abound in our hearts
as we pray, night and day, for your coming reign.
We may not see the signs in the heavens you spoke about,
but see plenty of signs in our world:
the rise, again, of dictators and those who envy them,
the mass movements of people, war and terror, ecological disaster.
We long for the joy you promise but live in the gloom of our realities.
Help us to speak truth even when inconvenient,
to lift up those oppressed by life,
and to challenge the unjust use of power wherever we encounter it.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Most Holy Spirit, strengthen our hearts in holiness
as we live and work in a confusing world
full of pain and praise, tragedy and beauty, failure and glory,
that we may become blameless before God.
Help us to be alert to the needs of our world, and of our community,
that we may respond to Your call to love
both as individuals and as a congregation,
showing your life and love as our redemption draws ever near.
Help us, dear God, to hope and help.
Eternal Trinity, be with us this Advent as we look both forward and back,
to pray and work for the coming Kingdom as, with Jesus, we pray,
Our Father…
Offering
As we hope for better times we know we have to give. Not just in the frenzy of Christmas where giving can be difficult, but in our day to day lives where we give of our time and our talents as well as of our treasure. St Paul told us that God loves a cheerful giver, but often we can be a bit grumpy as we give! We complain about our busyness, our exhaustion and our bank balances yet, despite the grumbling we know there’s joy in giving. The face of a child on Christmas morning, the thank you of a friend, the kiss of a lover. And so we give, in joy and sometimes with grumbling, but together God takes our gifts, and our attitudes, and makes wonderful things. Let’s pray.
O God, giver of all that is good,
we thank you for the gifts given in this community
kindness to strangers, food to the hungry,
time to the lonely, a listening ear to the depressed
and the financial gifts to church and charity.
Bless our giving, O God, and bless us,
that through our lives and by Your will,
Your Kingdom will come. Amen.
Hymn The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns
John Brownlie (1859 – 1925) Public Domain sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission
The King shall come when morning dawns
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.
Not as of old a little child,
to bear, and fight, and die,
but crowned with glory like the sun
that lights the morning sky.
O brighter than the rising morn
when He, victorious, rose
and left the lonesome place of death,
despite the rage of foes.
O brighter than that glorious morn
shall this fair morning be,
when Christ, our King, in beauty comes,
and we His face shall see.
The King shall come when morning dawns,
and light and beauty brings;
"Hail, Christ the Lord!" Thy people pray,
come quickly, King of kings!
Holy Communion
May God be with you | and also with you!
Lift up your hearts | we lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to God.| It is right to give our thanks and praise!
It is right and just, our duty and our joy
always and everywhere to give you our thanks, Eternal One,
through Jesus Christ, Your word made flesh.
We look at the signs of the times
and see the earth and the heavens shaken
with the selfishness of human greed,
the drunkenness and dissipation of life and the worries of the world,
yet You teach us to be alert, have hope,
and to see our redemption drawing near.
And so with the angels and archangels
And the whole company of heaven we sing to your praise and glory:
The Ash Grove Sanctus
Michael Forster © 1995 Kevin Mayhew Ltd OneLicence # A-734713
O holy, most holy, the God of creation,
forever exalted in pow’r and great might.
The earth and the heavens are full of your glory.
Hosanna, hosanna, and praise in the height!
How blessed is he who is sent to redeem us,
who puts ev’ry fear and injustice to flight;
who comes in the name of the Lord as our saviour.
Hosanna, hosanna, and praise in the height!
In these days of Advent, Eternal One, we wait in joyful hope,
for the world to change, the Kingdom to come,
justice to be established, and Jesus to return.
We look back to Bethlehem’s cradle
and forward to the final consummation of all things
when all creation will be made whole,
the poor lifted up, the hungry fed, the oppressed run free,
and where, in Your presence, we will dance with joy.
Until then we wait and work for the coming Kingdom,
gaining strength and inspiration at Your table,
where, in obedience to Jesus’ command,
we show forth His sacrifice on the Cross
with bread broken and wine poured
for us to eat and drink.
For we remember that night, long ago,
when Jesus, gathered with his friends around a table,
and shared in the simplicity of a meal.
During that meal he took some bread, blessed it, broke it,
and gave it to his friends saying:
“this is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.”
Then, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine,
said the ancient blessing, gave the cup to his friends and said:
“this cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.”
As we meet to share in this meal Jesus himself, risen and ascended,
is here with us - for we are gathered up into the heavenly places.
Jesus gives himself anew for our spiritual nourishment
and growth in grace.
So let us, together, affirm our faith:
Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
Come Holy Spirit, on these gifts of bread and wine,
that they may be, for us,
a communion with the body and blood of Christ which we share.
Remind us we are Christ’s body and blood, his hands and feet
in our world until he comes again.
Unite us with the whole Church in heaven and earth,
as we gather here to present our offering of praise and thanksgiving
presenting ourselves again
rejoicing in Jesus’ promise to return in glory.
Through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
All glory and praise is Yours, Eternal One,
forever and ever, Amen.
God’s holy gifts are given for God’s holy people;
let us share and rejoice as we encounter the living God.
Music for Communion Creator of the Stars of Night
© The Order of St Benedict 1959 Sung by the choir of St John’s Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colardo and used with their kind permission. ONE LICENSE # A-734713
Post Communion Prayer
God of the signs of the times,
you draw near to us in word and sacrament,
to strengthen, renew, and enthuse us with the fire of Your presence.
Give us hope, that as we see our redemption drawing near,
we may abound in love for you,
for our sisters and brothers we know,
and for those we are called to serve but don’t yet know.
Amen.
Hymn Christ is Surely Coming
Christopher Idle © 1975, The Jubilate Group (admin. Hope Publishing Company) Reprint and Podcast permission under ONE LICENSE # A-734713 Recording from Jubilate Hymns and used with their kind permission.
Christ is surely coming bringing his reward,
Alpha and Omega, First and Last and Lord:
Root and stem of David, brilliant Morning Star:
meet your Judge and Saviour, nations near and far;
meet your Judge and Saviour, nations near and far!
See the holy city! There they enter in,
All by Christ made holy, washed from every sin:
thirsty ones, desiring all he loves to give,
come for living water, freely drink, and live;
come for living water, freely drink, and live!
Grace be with God's people! Praise his holy name!
Father, Son, and Spirit, evermore the same.
Hear the certain promise from the eternal home:
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come;
'Surely I come quickly!' Come, Lord Jesus, come!
Blessing
May the One who loved you since before the ages began,
the One who became flesh to show you how to live,
the One who burns with a power that drives change,
hold you in love, show you how to live,
and enable you to change the world,
and the blessing of God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Be with you, now and evermore,
Amen.
--> Where words are copyright reproduced and streamed under the terms of ONE LICENSE A-734713
PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762
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Sunday 1 December 2024 The First Sunday of Advent
96
Sunday 1 December 2024 The First Sunday of Advent
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Sunday 1 December 2024
The First Sunday of Advent
Psalm 59
Rescue me, God, from my foes
protect me from those who attack me.
O rescue me from those who do evil
and save me from blood-thirsty enemies.
See, they lie in wait for my life;
the powerful band together against me.
For no offence, no sin of mine, Lord,
for no guilt of mine they rush to take their stand.
Awake, come to my aid and see!
Lord of hosts, you are Israel's God.
Rouse yourself and punish the nations;
show no mercy to evil traitors.
Each evening they come back like dogs.
They howl and roam about the city;
they prowl in search of food;
they snarl till they have their fill.
See how they gabble open-mouthed;
their lips are filled with insults.
"For who," they say, "will hear us?"
But you, Lord, will laugh them to scorn.
You make light of all the nations.
O my Strength, it is you to whom I turn,
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
the God who shows me love.
O God, come to my aid
and let me look in triumph on my foes.
God, kill them lest my people be seduced;
rout them by your power, lay them low.
It is you, O Lord, who are our shield.
For the sins of their mouths and their lips,
for the curses and lies that they speak
let them be caught in their pride.
Destroy them, Lord, in your anger.
Destroy them till they are no more.
Let the world know that you are the ruler
over Jacob and the ends of the earth.
Each evening they come back like dogs.
They howl and roam about the city;
they prowl in search of food,
they snarl till they have their fill.
As for me, I will sing of your strength
and each morning acclaim your love
for you have been my stronghold,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
O my Strength, it is you to whom I turn,
for you, O God, are my stronghold,
the God who shows me love.
Reflection
Saul was the first king of Israel, but chose to ignore God and ultimately was rejected by Him. God chose David as successor but even though he never challenged for the throne, Saul was madly jealous, to the point of violence. David wrote this song when Saul set an ambush for him at his home.
This psalm is mostly a confession of praise and prayer. David never loses confidence in God’s rescue. He knows he will be saved. God has control over the situation. God sees everything and David is focused on Him. He has complete trust in God’s ability.
Most of us will never experience the life threatening danger that David was in. We have the privilege of living in a peaceful country. But at times we experience people who are against us. Relationships can change without us knowing why. Sometimes we may face true danger unexpectedly and as children of God, our focus should be tuned into God’s saving nature, his ability to rescue and protect us.
David didn’t receive an instant way out of his situation. We can read in 1 Samuel 19 that David was saved by his wife, Mical, Saul’s daughter, who helped him to escape through a window.
So, when we are faced with situations where we see no way out and no hope for rescue, if God seems quiet and slow to come to our aid, we always have His word to speak out and to pray. We can turn Psalm 59 into the first person: ‘I am not afraid. God has promised to defend me. He is always with me. God is victorious. God is my strength and my shield. I wait for Him. He is always on my side. I will wait for God’s instruction and only follow His voice and His lead. I wait patiently for Him.’
David ends in worship. He sings of God’s strength and love that shines through, and rises above, everything, on the day of distress.
Prayer
Help us Lord to always turn to you in an instant, in our hour of need.
When danger comes, may we remember that you are our fortress, our strength and our protector.
May your Word be so absorbed into our being, that we know how to pray.
May we always know your voice speaking to us through your Word.
Today and everyday, Amen.
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'twas the night before Advent
96
'twas the night before Advent
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Advent Resources and More...
Dear Friends,
All our Advent and Christmas resources, including prayers for the lighting of Advent Candles, have been loaded up to the Worship Notes page here now. We hope you find these useful as Advent and Christmas services are planned. Over the next couple of weeks the January material will be published too.
We heard this week the sad news that Alan Creedy has died. Alan wrote a moving set of Daily Devotions on suffering from the perspective of someone living with Motor Neuron Disease. A private committal service will be held in December with a celebration of his life in the New Year. May Alan rest in peace and rise in glory.
David Coleman, chaplain to Eco Congregation Scotland has created an Advent calendar of short devotional videos for each day of Advent which can be found here. There are videos featuring Lindsey Sanderson, Moderator of the National Synod of Scotland, the Revd Dr Shaw James Paterson, Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, and myself. They can be downloaded and widely shared.
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes in preparing the Daily Devotions which go out every day; not just from the writers but from those who record them for podcasts to local contacts who print them off for people in their congregations. I'd like to recruit a few more people to load the material into this email programme. It's a fairly easy task; you need an eye for detail, about an hour to spare a month (probably less) and a willingness to be trained. I'd offer training for, hopefully, a group of new folks via Zoom. Please do let me know if you'd be able to help.
I hope that as Advent starts you find time amid the busyness of the season to contemplate the readings offered and the rich tapestry of Advent hymns which see us through the season.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev'd Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
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Dear Friends,
All our Advent and Christmas resources, including prayers for the lighting of Advent Candles, have been loaded up to the Worship Notes page here now. We hope you find these useful as Advent and Christmas services are planned. Over the next couple of weeks the January material will be published too.
We heard this week the sad news that Alan Creedy has died. Alan wrote a moving set of Daily Devotions on suffering from the perspective of someone living with Motor Neuron Disease. A private committal service will be held in December with a celebration of his life in the New Year. May Alan rest in peace and rise in glory.
David Coleman, chaplain to Eco Congregation Scotland has created an Advent calendar of short devotional videos for each day of Advent which can be found here. There are videos featuring Lindsey Sanderson, Moderator of the National Synod of Scotland, the Revd Dr Shaw James Paterson, Moderator of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly, and myself. They can be downloaded and widely shared.
A lot of work goes on behind the scenes in preparing the Daily Devotions which go out every day; not just from the writers but from those who record them for podcasts to local contacts who print them off for people in their congregations. I'd like to recruit a few more people to load the material into this email programme. It's a fairly easy task; you need an eye for detail, about an hour to spare a month (probably less) and a willingness to be trained. I'd offer training for, hopefully, a group of new folks via Zoom. Please do let me know if you'd be able to help.
I hope that as Advent starts you find time amid the busyness of the season to contemplate the readings offered and the rich tapestry of Advent hymns which see us through the season.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev'd Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
-->
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URC Daily Devotion 30 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion 30 November 2024
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30 November 2024
St Luke 4: 14 - 22
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Reflection
Jesus enters the synagogue in Nazareth, he stands up to read from the scroll he is given and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
We don’t really know much about synagogue practice in the first century, however the story told by Luke fits well with what we know from later developments. In Jesus’ day the prophetic reading may not have been controlled by the lectionary, rather it was chosen by the reader, who could be any adult male. The words chosen by Jesus were not from one chapter, but combine words from Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58.
Jesus closes the scroll, returns it to the attendant and sits down. Then in what appears to be the shortest sermon ever he begins to say to them ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. A short sermon perhaps, or just the beginning and Luke does not provide us with the rest of it. Maybe these are the significant words and as we read on we understand they create quite a stir.
The words from Isaiah speak of a year of Jubilee, a Sabbath of all Sabbaths to take place every forty-nine years, seven times seven years. A year of liberation for the soil, a remission of the debts of debtors, aid for the impoverished, release of slaves from slavery. It is doubtful whether these Jubilee laws from Leviticus were ever put into effect, but these laws are an acknowledgement that everything was held in trust to God, and everything is dependent upon God’s saving activity.
Some may remember the Jubilee Campaign started in 1989 and continuing today. A campaign calling for the remission of debts held by the poorest countries of the world, and working on behalf of children at risk.
You could describe this sermon as a manifesto for Jesus’ ministry. In his commentary on Luke’s Gospel George Caird has written ‘the rest of the Gospel is simply a working out of this programme’.
Prayer
O God,
as the Spirit came to Jesus,
anointing him to bring good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind.
May we his church today,
be led by the Holy Spirit
as we continue Christ's ministry.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr David Whiting, retired Minister living in Sunderland Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 4: 14 - 22
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Reflection
Jesus enters the synagogue in Nazareth, he stands up to read from the scroll he is given and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
We don’t really know much about synagogue practice in the first century, however the story told by Luke fits well with what we know from later developments. In Jesus’ day the prophetic reading may not have been controlled by the lectionary, rather it was chosen by the reader, who could be any adult male. The words chosen by Jesus were not from one chapter, but combine words from Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 58.
Jesus closes the scroll, returns it to the attendant and sits down. Then in what appears to be the shortest sermon ever he begins to say to them ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’. A short sermon perhaps, or just the beginning and Luke does not provide us with the rest of it. Maybe these are the significant words and as we read on we understand they create quite a stir.
The words from Isaiah speak of a year of Jubilee, a Sabbath of all Sabbaths to take place every forty-nine years, seven times seven years. A year of liberation for the soil, a remission of the debts of debtors, aid for the impoverished, release of slaves from slavery. It is doubtful whether these Jubilee laws from Leviticus were ever put into effect, but these laws are an acknowledgement that everything was held in trust to God, and everything is dependent upon God’s saving activity.
Some may remember the Jubilee Campaign started in 1989 and continuing today. A campaign calling for the remission of debts held by the poorest countries of the world, and working on behalf of children at risk.
You could describe this sermon as a manifesto for Jesus’ ministry. In his commentary on Luke’s Gospel George Caird has written ‘the rest of the Gospel is simply a working out of this programme’.
Prayer
O God,
as the Spirit came to Jesus,
anointing him to bring good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind.
May we his church today,
be led by the Holy Spirit
as we continue Christ's ministry.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr David Whiting, retired Minister living in Sunderland Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
Change Your Email Address
or
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URC Daily Devotion 29 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion 29 November 2024
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29 November 2024
St Luke 4: 1 - 13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”,
and
“On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Reflection
Today’s text reminds us that our capacity to repent and resist temptation comes from our relationship with God, and the grace of his deliverance, rather than from our own strength and initiative.
We live in a world of competing stories. In such a world, we must know the Christian story in order to resist the false stories that seek to take us captive. The reading has two competing stories: the story that Jesus taps into in order to resist the devil and successfully navigate the temptations laid before him, and the narrative the devil presents.
The story of the temptations takes place in two significant locations: the wilderness and Jerusalem. Historically, the wilderness was the place where God met the Jewish people at Sinai after rescuing them. In the wilderness God shaped them into a covenant people cared for and led by God with cloud and fire. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is also led in the wilderness, and he faces temptation by his adversary, the devil.
Jesus is the Son of God who will bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles, who has been baptised and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus is led into the wilderness, and we see the introduction of the second character, the devil who is bold, cunning, clever, and powerful. It is the devil who tempts, and the devil who ends the temptation and departs from Jesus. In each temptation, the devil speaks first and Jesus replies. The story ends when the devil finishes the temptation and leaves Jesus, for the time being.
Underlying the dialogue between the devil and Jesus are two competing storylines with the devil offering a storyline of self-indulgence, self-aggrandisement, and self-serving religious identity. Meanwhile, Jesus responds with a storyline of biblical quotations that show awareness of the true source of life and identity, his reliance on God, and his understanding of God’s character.
We too should be dependent on God for life, glory, and identity.
Prayer
Passionate God,
firing us with the flames of your Holy Spirit,
we commit ourselves with passion to the cause of your Kingdom,
for the love of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen
--> Today's writer Sue Knight is a Local Church Leader at Reigate Park URC training for ministry at Westminster College Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 4: 1 - 13
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’ Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’
Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”,
and
“On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”’
Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Reflection
Today’s text reminds us that our capacity to repent and resist temptation comes from our relationship with God, and the grace of his deliverance, rather than from our own strength and initiative.
We live in a world of competing stories. In such a world, we must know the Christian story in order to resist the false stories that seek to take us captive. The reading has two competing stories: the story that Jesus taps into in order to resist the devil and successfully navigate the temptations laid before him, and the narrative the devil presents.
The story of the temptations takes place in two significant locations: the wilderness and Jerusalem. Historically, the wilderness was the place where God met the Jewish people at Sinai after rescuing them. In the wilderness God shaped them into a covenant people cared for and led by God with cloud and fire. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is also led in the wilderness, and he faces temptation by his adversary, the devil.
Jesus is the Son of God who will bring salvation to both Jews and Gentiles, who has been baptised and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus is led into the wilderness, and we see the introduction of the second character, the devil who is bold, cunning, clever, and powerful. It is the devil who tempts, and the devil who ends the temptation and departs from Jesus. In each temptation, the devil speaks first and Jesus replies. The story ends when the devil finishes the temptation and leaves Jesus, for the time being.
Underlying the dialogue between the devil and Jesus are two competing storylines with the devil offering a storyline of self-indulgence, self-aggrandisement, and self-serving religious identity. Meanwhile, Jesus responds with a storyline of biblical quotations that show awareness of the true source of life and identity, his reliance on God, and his understanding of God’s character.
We too should be dependent on God for life, glory, and identity.
Prayer
Passionate God,
firing us with the flames of your Holy Spirit,
we commit ourselves with passion to the cause of your Kingdom,
for the love of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen
--> Today's writer Sue Knight is a Local Church Leader at Reigate Park URC training for ministry at Westminster College Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
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URC Daily Devotion 28 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion 28 November 2024
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28 November 2024
St Luke 3: 23 - 38
Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.
Reflection
What possible relevance could these verses have to our lives today? Is this listing of Jesus’s ancestors, many of whom we have never heard of, anything more than a buffer between the dramatic accounts of Jesus’s baptism and his temptations? It seems at first sight tediously dull. There’s no room for discussion in such a list; it seems to be nothing more than a stereotypical succession of names according to the formula “X son of Y.” Yet this is more than a bare list, it is a genealogy, a family tree. And genealogies are not just a historical record; they have meaning. They also speak to relationships in the present. For the early Christian community this really mattered. They needed to know how they related to Jesus and one way of answering the question was to point to his line of descent. Significantly then, Luke raises questions at the very beginning about Jesus’ paternity: Jesus was, he writes, “thought” to be the son of Joseph. The implications of that statement are obvious. If not Joseph, then who? who really was Jesus’ father?
Luke goes into reverse gear – he starts with Jesus, at the age of thirty, beginning his work, and charges back through the generations past David, far beyond Abraham, to Adam - encompassing the entire human race in Jesus’s ancestors. And beyond Adam, the last ancestor to be named is God. In this breath-taking scheme, Luke substantiates and affirms Jesus’ identity as son of God. Jesus is the son of God through God’s creative work in Adam, through his promise to David and through Joseph’s legal fatherhood.
Luke’s genealogy enables us to situate ourselves in God’s great plan, through Jesus, to save all those he has created. That includes us and our posterity. It fills us with hope.
Prayer
Gracious God,
our father,
we rejoice in the love you have shown us,
the freedom you give us,
the hope of which we are assured,
through your son our saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Fleur Houston, retired minister, member of Macclesfield & Bollington URC. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 3: 23 - 38
Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.
Reflection
What possible relevance could these verses have to our lives today? Is this listing of Jesus’s ancestors, many of whom we have never heard of, anything more than a buffer between the dramatic accounts of Jesus’s baptism and his temptations? It seems at first sight tediously dull. There’s no room for discussion in such a list; it seems to be nothing more than a stereotypical succession of names according to the formula “X son of Y.” Yet this is more than a bare list, it is a genealogy, a family tree. And genealogies are not just a historical record; they have meaning. They also speak to relationships in the present. For the early Christian community this really mattered. They needed to know how they related to Jesus and one way of answering the question was to point to his line of descent. Significantly then, Luke raises questions at the very beginning about Jesus’ paternity: Jesus was, he writes, “thought” to be the son of Joseph. The implications of that statement are obvious. If not Joseph, then who? who really was Jesus’ father?
Luke goes into reverse gear – he starts with Jesus, at the age of thirty, beginning his work, and charges back through the generations past David, far beyond Abraham, to Adam - encompassing the entire human race in Jesus’s ancestors. And beyond Adam, the last ancestor to be named is God. In this breath-taking scheme, Luke substantiates and affirms Jesus’ identity as son of God. Jesus is the son of God through God’s creative work in Adam, through his promise to David and through Joseph’s legal fatherhood.
Luke’s genealogy enables us to situate ourselves in God’s great plan, through Jesus, to save all those he has created. That includes us and our posterity. It fills us with hope.
Prayer
Gracious God,
our father,
we rejoice in the love you have shown us,
the freedom you give us,
the hope of which we are assured,
through your son our saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Fleur Houston, retired minister, member of Macclesfield & Bollington URC. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
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URC Daily Devotion 27 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion 27 November 2024
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27 November 2024
St Luke 3: 21 - 22
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’
Reflection
So far in Luke’s Gospel, we’ve seen the Holy Spirit come upon Mary, Elizabeth, John, Zechariah, and Simeon. John the Baptist has prepared the way for Jesus, promising a baptism of the Holy Spirit, and now, as Jesus is baptised, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and Jesus hears these wonderful words of affirmation.
If we’re honest, don’t we long to hear such words spoken over us? The good news is that in Christ, and through the Spirit coming to dwell within us, we can be adopted into God’s family too (see Romans 8:9-17). We can become sons and daughters of the living God. As Paul makes clear in Ephesians 1:3-14, we have been abundantly blessed, chosen, loved, predestined, adopted and redeemed in Christ – and the Spirit is the “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.” So the Spirit is the presence and love of God, poured out into our hearts (Romans 5:5), reminding us both who we are (beloved sons and daughters) – and whose we are (God’s).
This is wonderful, but as Jesus will soon experience, God’s affirmation and Holy Spirit do not guarantee an easy path through life. In just a few verses, the Spirit will lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Spirit leads Jesus to a place of extreme thirst and hunger, where his very identity, authority and protection will be challenged. But, the Spirit is clearly at work through this, for after resisting the devil’s attacks, we read, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee…He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” Perhaps there’s some spiritual arithmetic here: Affirmation + Temptation = Effective Ministry and Mission. Like Christ, God blesses us – and allows us to be tested – that we might be a blessing to others.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, you stirred the waters of creation,
and you stir our hearts with your love.
We praise you for every spiritual blessing we have received:
that we are chosen, loved, predestined, adopted and redeemed in Christ.
In every situation, remind us that we are beloved sons and daughters,
and help us to stand firm in your grace and truth when we face temptation.
In our blessedness, may we bless others, to your glory.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Rev’d Matt Stone, Minister of Herringthorpe URC, Rotherham, and Ardeen Road URC, Doncaster, and Chair of GEAR, the Group for Evangelism and Renewal in the URC Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 3: 21 - 22
Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’
Reflection
So far in Luke’s Gospel, we’ve seen the Holy Spirit come upon Mary, Elizabeth, John, Zechariah, and Simeon. John the Baptist has prepared the way for Jesus, promising a baptism of the Holy Spirit, and now, as Jesus is baptised, the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and Jesus hears these wonderful words of affirmation.
If we’re honest, don’t we long to hear such words spoken over us? The good news is that in Christ, and through the Spirit coming to dwell within us, we can be adopted into God’s family too (see Romans 8:9-17). We can become sons and daughters of the living God. As Paul makes clear in Ephesians 1:3-14, we have been abundantly blessed, chosen, loved, predestined, adopted and redeemed in Christ – and the Spirit is the “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.” So the Spirit is the presence and love of God, poured out into our hearts (Romans 5:5), reminding us both who we are (beloved sons and daughters) – and whose we are (God’s).
This is wonderful, but as Jesus will soon experience, God’s affirmation and Holy Spirit do not guarantee an easy path through life. In just a few verses, the Spirit will lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Spirit leads Jesus to a place of extreme thirst and hunger, where his very identity, authority and protection will be challenged. But, the Spirit is clearly at work through this, for after resisting the devil’s attacks, we read, “Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee…He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.” Perhaps there’s some spiritual arithmetic here: Affirmation + Temptation = Effective Ministry and Mission. Like Christ, God blesses us – and allows us to be tested – that we might be a blessing to others.
Prayer
Holy Spirit, you stirred the waters of creation,
and you stir our hearts with your love.
We praise you for every spiritual blessing we have received:
that we are chosen, loved, predestined, adopted and redeemed in Christ.
In every situation, remind us that we are beloved sons and daughters,
and help us to stand firm in your grace and truth when we face temptation.
In our blessedness, may we bless others, to your glory.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Rev’d Matt Stone, Minister of Herringthorpe URC, Rotherham, and Ardeen Road URC, Doncaster, and Chair of GEAR, the Group for Evangelism and Renewal in the URC Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion 26 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion 26 November 2024
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26 November 2024
St Luke 3: 1 - 20
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”’
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’
And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
Reflection
I wonder if Luke is having a little joke at this point in the gospel, as he describes John’s threats of unquenchable fire as ‘proclaiming the good news’! But if we read back a little, Luke quotes Isaiah, implying that John is the voice crying out in the wilderness, promising that all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
In politics and public affairs people sometimes talk about ‘flying kites’ or ‘rolling the pitch’. A story might make it into the newspapers that ‘No. 10 sources are considering such and such a change’ - and depending on how the idea goes down, it might die a death if Ministers judge that overcoming opposition wouldn’t be worth the effort - or it might get developed further. Alternatively, in order to make the case for a change that might seem unpalatable, leaders might spend time underlining the problems with the status quo, and explaining why apparently easy options don’t work, so that a later reform proposal isn’t coming out of the blue.
What is John’s role in the gospel story? We may be used to hearing readings like this in Advent, with a strong emphasis on preparing for Jesus’ coming. But are we diminishing his message to merely pitch-rolling? The vision Luke quotes from Isaiah goes further than just ‘doing the right thing’, despite John’s answers to the tax-collectors and soldiers - Isaiah sees the whole landscape being reshaped! If this is what John means by bearing ‘fruits worthy of repentance’, then what fruits should we be bearing?
Prayer
Lord, we give thanks for your servant John.
We remember that people who remind us about right and wrong don’t always please the powerful.
Help us to hear their challenge,
and bear true fruits of repentance,
that in our lives we may reshape the landscape of our world
that your people may come closer to your kingdom.
Amen
--> Today's writer Gordon Woods, Elder, St. Columba’s URC, Oxford Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”’
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’
And the crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply he said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’ Even tax-collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.’ Soldiers also asked him, ‘And we, what should we do?’ He said to them, ‘Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.’
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
Reflection
I wonder if Luke is having a little joke at this point in the gospel, as he describes John’s threats of unquenchable fire as ‘proclaiming the good news’! But if we read back a little, Luke quotes Isaiah, implying that John is the voice crying out in the wilderness, promising that all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
In politics and public affairs people sometimes talk about ‘flying kites’ or ‘rolling the pitch’. A story might make it into the newspapers that ‘No. 10 sources are considering such and such a change’ - and depending on how the idea goes down, it might die a death if Ministers judge that overcoming opposition wouldn’t be worth the effort - or it might get developed further. Alternatively, in order to make the case for a change that might seem unpalatable, leaders might spend time underlining the problems with the status quo, and explaining why apparently easy options don’t work, so that a later reform proposal isn’t coming out of the blue.
What is John’s role in the gospel story? We may be used to hearing readings like this in Advent, with a strong emphasis on preparing for Jesus’ coming. But are we diminishing his message to merely pitch-rolling? The vision Luke quotes from Isaiah goes further than just ‘doing the right thing’, despite John’s answers to the tax-collectors and soldiers - Isaiah sees the whole landscape being reshaped! If this is what John means by bearing ‘fruits worthy of repentance’, then what fruits should we be bearing?
Prayer
Lord, we give thanks for your servant John.
We remember that people who remind us about right and wrong don’t always please the powerful.
Help us to hear their challenge,
and bear true fruits of repentance,
that in our lives we may reshape the landscape of our world
that your people may come closer to your kingdom.
Amen
--> Today's writer Gordon Woods, Elder, St. Columba’s URC, Oxford Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion Monday 25 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Monday 25 November 2024
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Monday 25 November 2024
St Luke 2: 41 - 52
Now every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour.
Reflection
How reassuring the Holy Family was as full of cross-generational misunderstandings as most families today! Parent: How could you do this to us? Child: What’s the stress – it’s obvs I’m here! Yet behind this is a deep sense of intergenerational community that we have largely lost. The festival includes all ages of relatives and friends, those who travel physically and metaphorically together in a shared life of faith. The boy Jesus is safe, known and loved, his parents trusting the whole village to raise their son. In an age of abuse revelations, when no institution appears trustworthy and individuals exploit trust, how might we rebuild such communities? How might we exercise the wisdom of serpents alongside the innocence of doves within relationships and balance protecting the vulnerable with God’s declaration it is not good for us to be alone and the lonely are placed in families?
In the Temple we see twelve-year-old Jesus sitting among the teachers (not sent out to Junior Temple) actively engaged through listening and asking questions and showing amazing wisdom and understanding. How might we enable our children and young people to be actively engaged in their and our faith formation – creating spaces where together we listen to one another, enriched by both the questions and answers of different generations?
This story is alive with resonances of Jesus’ calling – a deep awareness of his Sonship, a desire to dwell in the Father’s presence, a stepping out of the safety of family life into the public eye, ongoing questions and discussions with religious teachers about the life of faith, a shocking absence for 3 days and a joyful reunion with those lovingly searching for him. How might we enable children and young people to discern God’s call on their lives both now and into the future through their current experiences, passions and gifts?
Prayer
Loving God,
as we and all your children grow and change
in wisdom, in age,
in relationship with you and with others,
give us grace to enable and welcome change.
Help us to accommodate growing and changing children and young people,
to change with them,
and together to respond to your call
to grow up into the fulness of Christ.
Amen.
--> Today's writer Dr Sam Richards, serving as Head of Children’s and Youth Work, Messy Church team St Mary’s Chalgrove Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Now every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travellers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, ‘Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.’ He said to them, ‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favour.
Reflection
How reassuring the Holy Family was as full of cross-generational misunderstandings as most families today! Parent: How could you do this to us? Child: What’s the stress – it’s obvs I’m here! Yet behind this is a deep sense of intergenerational community that we have largely lost. The festival includes all ages of relatives and friends, those who travel physically and metaphorically together in a shared life of faith. The boy Jesus is safe, known and loved, his parents trusting the whole village to raise their son. In an age of abuse revelations, when no institution appears trustworthy and individuals exploit trust, how might we rebuild such communities? How might we exercise the wisdom of serpents alongside the innocence of doves within relationships and balance protecting the vulnerable with God’s declaration it is not good for us to be alone and the lonely are placed in families?
In the Temple we see twelve-year-old Jesus sitting among the teachers (not sent out to Junior Temple) actively engaged through listening and asking questions and showing amazing wisdom and understanding. How might we enable our children and young people to be actively engaged in their and our faith formation – creating spaces where together we listen to one another, enriched by both the questions and answers of different generations?
This story is alive with resonances of Jesus’ calling – a deep awareness of his Sonship, a desire to dwell in the Father’s presence, a stepping out of the safety of family life into the public eye, ongoing questions and discussions with religious teachers about the life of faith, a shocking absence for 3 days and a joyful reunion with those lovingly searching for him. How might we enable children and young people to discern God’s call on their lives both now and into the future through their current experiences, passions and gifts?
Prayer
Loving God,
as we and all your children grow and change
in wisdom, in age,
in relationship with you and with others,
give us grace to enable and welcome change.
Help us to accommodate growing and changing children and young people,
to change with them,
and together to respond to your call
to grow up into the fulness of Christ.
Amen.
--> Today's writer Dr Sam Richards, serving as Head of Children’s and Youth Work, Messy Church team St Mary’s Chalgrove Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
Change Your Email Address
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Sunday Worship 24 November 2024
96
Sunday Worship 24 November 2024
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Worship Services from the URC
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Order of Service
Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 24 November 2024
Today’s service is led by the Revd Nicky Gilbert
Introduction
Welcome to this service for 24th of November the day for the traditional feast of Christ the King. I am Nicky Gilbert, a non-stipendiary Area Minister in the Wessex Synod on the south coast of England. As we near the season of Advent, we join together to think about Jesus as our king, and we worship him.
Call to Worship
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.
Hymn Immortal Invisible
Walter C. Smith (1867) Public Domain BBC Songs of Praise
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish but naught changeth thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all praise we would render, O help us to see
'tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.
Opening Prayers
Jesus our King; we come to honour you.
You have promised to meet with us.
You have called us to come, so here we are.
To listen to your heart, to look for your path,
to think about your truth, and to learn about your love.
King of our hearts meet with us here, wherever here is, Amen.
Reading St John 18: 33-37
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Reading Psalm 132: 1-12
Lord, remember David and all his self-denial.
He swore an oath to the Lord,
he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
“I will not enter my house or go to my bed,
I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:
“Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying,
‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
May your priests be clothed with your righteousness;
may your faithful people sing for joy.’”
For the sake of your servant David, do not reject your anointed one.
The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants I will place on your throne.
If your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever.”
Hymn We have a king who rides a donkey
Fred Kaan © 1968 Hope Publishing Company Sung by Andrea Maxson and Grimsby Minster's Organist and Director of Music, Steven Maxson Printed and podcast in accordance to the terms of OneLicence # A-734713
We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
and his name is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
Trees are waving a royal welcome
Trees are waving a royal welcome
Trees are waving a royal welcome
for the king called Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
We have a king who cares for people,
We have a king who cares for people,
We have a king who cares for people,
and his name is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
bread-and-wine is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
servant-king is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
What shall we do with our life this morning?
What shall we do with our life this morning?
What shall we do with our life this morning?
Give it up in service!
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
Sermon King Sized?
For those of us born in the last 70 years we have not been used to having a king. We had a queen and our understanding of royalty was coloured by that. The one who loved her animals and served her people and chose to align herself with refugee bears like Paddington rather than great rulers. It still feels little odd to sing God save our gracious king…. But Charles in now our king and he also chooses to align himself to the environment and work for a better future.
Kings, as I said, until now, were ideas that belonged in history books or fairy stories. King Henry VIII, fighting for religious reform/ freedom from Rome/ doing whatever he wanted depending on the season. King Canute trying to stop the waves as the tide came in. King Arthur and his round table and his brave knights fighting for good. Story kings who sent their sons on silly quests and locked their daughters in towers… King Midas who turned everything he touched to gold.
In Jesus’ time too kings were a mixed bunch, the Egyptian kings were Pharos, half divine. With power over the life and death of their subjects. The Romans had emperors who ruled over great empires with fear and power, absorbing one land after another. The Jews had puppet kings and rulers like Herod and Pilate who had no power without Roman support, as did the Roman ruled Britons when the Romans got here soon after. There were kings who took on legionary status, like king Solomon and king David who, although not a perfect person, was proclaimed as a great king.
Our psalm today was probably one of the ones that people sang on their way to the temple for special festivals, although it talks of David building God’s house it was his son, Solomon, who did build the first temple, using some of the preparations his father had made. Solomon too was legendary for his wisdom, people came from far and wide to hear him, even other rulers like the queen of Sheba.
So when we say that Jesus is king what do we mean? Many kings were thought of as great because they enlarged their people’s territory, like king David, but Jesus is a king without an earthly kingdom, no territory here at all. But Jesus, like king David, was shepherd for his people and protector and guide. Jesus did not build great temples although he did cause trouble in them from time to time. Arguing with his teachers, clearing out the money changers. Jesus, like Henry VIII, argued with the religious leaders of his day, seeking reform, but unlike Henry he didn’t just want his own way.
Canute was a foreign king, a Viking, who won the hearts of many of his subjects, he brought peace and stability to the land, he may have been showing his people that he could not turn the tide; only God can do that!
Jesus did not hold back the tide like Canute tried to do, but did still the storm, even the wind and waves obeyed him. He longs for peace for his people, but not necessarily stability!
Jesus sends his disciples on quests but not silly ones (not usually anyway!) ones that bring his love and kingdom closer. Taking the Good News of healing and acceptance, to the poor, the lost, the hungry. Jesus is not a king who locks anyone in a tower! Jesus was not half divine like the Pharos, but wholly divine and wholly human. Too much for our feeble minds to take in.
Jesus, like king Arthur, had his followers, who pledged to follow him and work for good, and a (not round) table of bread and wine to welcome us all. Jesus like our queen served his people to the very end. And aligned himself with the forgotten, the poor, the refugees, the outcasts. ( But not bears…)
Jesus’ reign never stops, his kingdom and kingship is forever. Unlike Midas, His treasure is not gold, but when he touches people they are changed. We are his treasure! He is no puppet king, he owes his power to no one, and no one falls outside his jurisdiction. Kings and queens still come and seek his wisdom. He is humble and compassionate and never sends his people where he will not go or eats while his people are hungry or turns his people away without noticing them.
So what does all this mean for us? We have a King who is not afraid, or too grand, or to busy, to walk among his people. We are his people, let us follow him as closely as we can. He is our forever king, and we are his people. Called to serve him in his kingdom now and later! Hooray for our King, Amen.
Hymn Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish, Attributed to St Patrick, Public Domain
sung by the choir and people of First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else but to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day and or by night,
waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;
Thou my soul’s shelter and Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys O bright heaven’s Sun.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Prayers for the World and Lord’s Prayer
Gracious God; we pray for the world you love.
We pray for kings and queens
and prime ministers and presidents
and all earthly rulers.
The loyal and compassionate,
the trustworthy and honest,
the wise and the considerate.
Give them the strength to continue in wisdom.
We pray also for leaders who fall short of these high ideals,
for those who forget
who they are meant to be protecting and supporting,
give them ears to hear the voices of those they have power over
and hearts to listen in compassion.
We pray for those who make big decisions,
doctors and teachers, nurses and aid workers, parents and police.
Help them to listen to the needs of others.
We pray for all those who have to live with the decisions of others.
The powerless, the landless, and the disempowered.
We pray for our communities,
for less division and more cooperation,
less anger and more understanding.
We ask that you show us how to be the best neighbour that we can be.
We pray for our families for all the love we find there,
and for grace and forgiveness when things get hard.
We pray for ourselves,
you know when we fall short of being the best we can be,
you know when we find it hard to maintain our boundaries,
and when we fail in our compassion.
You know the things that keep us awake at night
and the things we look forward to.
Guide and protect us dear King.
Help us to be the good subjects of your Kingdom.
All these things we pray about with hope and trust,
in the name of Jeus who loves us and who left us these words,
Our Father…
Hymn The King of Love My Shepherd Is
H. W. Baker (1868) Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine forever.
Where streams of living water flow,
with gentle care he leads me;
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with heavenly food he feeds me.
Perverse and foolish, I have strayed,
but yet in love he sought me;
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.
And so through all the length of days,
your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise
within your house forever.
Blessing
May God the father who loves you,
Jesus the King who reigns over you,
and God the spirit who empowers you,
be with you and those you love and pray for,
now and forever. Amen.
--> Where words are copyright reproduced and streamed under the terms of ONE LICENSE A-734713
PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762
Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
update your preferences
or
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Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 24 November 2024
Today’s service is led by the Revd Nicky Gilbert
Introduction
Welcome to this service for 24th of November the day for the traditional feast of Christ the King. I am Nicky Gilbert, a non-stipendiary Area Minister in the Wessex Synod on the south coast of England. As we near the season of Advent, we join together to think about Jesus as our king, and we worship him.
Call to Worship
The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.
Hymn Immortal Invisible
Walter C. Smith (1867) Public Domain BBC Songs of Praise
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
thy justice like mountains high soaring above
thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
To all life thou givest, to both great and small;
in all life thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish but naught changeth thee.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
all praise we would render, O help us to see
'tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.
Opening Prayers
Jesus our King; we come to honour you.
You have promised to meet with us.
You have called us to come, so here we are.
To listen to your heart, to look for your path,
to think about your truth, and to learn about your love.
King of our hearts meet with us here, wherever here is, Amen.
Reading St John 18: 33-37
Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Reading Psalm 132: 1-12
Lord, remember David and all his self-denial.
He swore an oath to the Lord,
he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
“I will not enter my house or go to my bed,
I will allow no sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
till I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
We heard it in Ephrathah, we came upon it in the fields of Jaar:
“Let us go to his dwelling place, let us worship at his footstool, saying,
‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
you and the ark of your might.
May your priests be clothed with your righteousness;
may your faithful people sing for joy.’”
For the sake of your servant David, do not reject your anointed one.
The Lord swore an oath to David, a sure oath he will not revoke:
“One of your own descendants I will place on your throne.
If your sons keep my covenant and the statutes I teach them,
then their sons will sit on your throne for ever and ever.”
Hymn We have a king who rides a donkey
Fred Kaan © 1968 Hope Publishing Company Sung by Andrea Maxson and Grimsby Minster's Organist and Director of Music, Steven Maxson Printed and podcast in accordance to the terms of OneLicence # A-734713
We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
and his name is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
Trees are waving a royal welcome
Trees are waving a royal welcome
Trees are waving a royal welcome
for the king called Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
We have a king who cares for people,
We have a king who cares for people,
We have a king who cares for people,
and his name is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
A loaf and a cup upon the table,
bread-and-wine is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
We have a king with a bowl and towel,
servant-king is Jesus:
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
What shall we do with our life this morning?
What shall we do with our life this morning?
What shall we do with our life this morning?
Give it up in service!
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
Jesus the king is risen
early in the morning.
Sermon King Sized?
For those of us born in the last 70 years we have not been used to having a king. We had a queen and our understanding of royalty was coloured by that. The one who loved her animals and served her people and chose to align herself with refugee bears like Paddington rather than great rulers. It still feels little odd to sing God save our gracious king…. But Charles in now our king and he also chooses to align himself to the environment and work for a better future.
Kings, as I said, until now, were ideas that belonged in history books or fairy stories. King Henry VIII, fighting for religious reform/ freedom from Rome/ doing whatever he wanted depending on the season. King Canute trying to stop the waves as the tide came in. King Arthur and his round table and his brave knights fighting for good. Story kings who sent their sons on silly quests and locked their daughters in towers… King Midas who turned everything he touched to gold.
In Jesus’ time too kings were a mixed bunch, the Egyptian kings were Pharos, half divine. With power over the life and death of their subjects. The Romans had emperors who ruled over great empires with fear and power, absorbing one land after another. The Jews had puppet kings and rulers like Herod and Pilate who had no power without Roman support, as did the Roman ruled Britons when the Romans got here soon after. There were kings who took on legionary status, like king Solomon and king David who, although not a perfect person, was proclaimed as a great king.
Our psalm today was probably one of the ones that people sang on their way to the temple for special festivals, although it talks of David building God’s house it was his son, Solomon, who did build the first temple, using some of the preparations his father had made. Solomon too was legendary for his wisdom, people came from far and wide to hear him, even other rulers like the queen of Sheba.
So when we say that Jesus is king what do we mean? Many kings were thought of as great because they enlarged their people’s territory, like king David, but Jesus is a king without an earthly kingdom, no territory here at all. But Jesus, like king David, was shepherd for his people and protector and guide. Jesus did not build great temples although he did cause trouble in them from time to time. Arguing with his teachers, clearing out the money changers. Jesus, like Henry VIII, argued with the religious leaders of his day, seeking reform, but unlike Henry he didn’t just want his own way.
Canute was a foreign king, a Viking, who won the hearts of many of his subjects, he brought peace and stability to the land, he may have been showing his people that he could not turn the tide; only God can do that!
Jesus did not hold back the tide like Canute tried to do, but did still the storm, even the wind and waves obeyed him. He longs for peace for his people, but not necessarily stability!
Jesus sends his disciples on quests but not silly ones (not usually anyway!) ones that bring his love and kingdom closer. Taking the Good News of healing and acceptance, to the poor, the lost, the hungry. Jesus is not a king who locks anyone in a tower! Jesus was not half divine like the Pharos, but wholly divine and wholly human. Too much for our feeble minds to take in.
Jesus, like king Arthur, had his followers, who pledged to follow him and work for good, and a (not round) table of bread and wine to welcome us all. Jesus like our queen served his people to the very end. And aligned himself with the forgotten, the poor, the refugees, the outcasts. ( But not bears…)
Jesus’ reign never stops, his kingdom and kingship is forever. Unlike Midas, His treasure is not gold, but when he touches people they are changed. We are his treasure! He is no puppet king, he owes his power to no one, and no one falls outside his jurisdiction. Kings and queens still come and seek his wisdom. He is humble and compassionate and never sends his people where he will not go or eats while his people are hungry or turns his people away without noticing them.
So what does all this mean for us? We have a King who is not afraid, or too grand, or to busy, to walk among his people. We are his people, let us follow him as closely as we can. He is our forever king, and we are his people. Called to serve him in his kingdom now and later! Hooray for our King, Amen.
Hymn Be Thou My Vision
Ancient Irish, Attributed to St Patrick, Public Domain
sung by the choir and people of First Plymouth Church, Lincoln, Nebraska
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
naught be all else but to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day and or by night,
waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;
Thou my soul’s shelter and Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.
High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys O bright heaven’s Sun.
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Prayers for the World and Lord’s Prayer
Gracious God; we pray for the world you love.
We pray for kings and queens
and prime ministers and presidents
and all earthly rulers.
The loyal and compassionate,
the trustworthy and honest,
the wise and the considerate.
Give them the strength to continue in wisdom.
We pray also for leaders who fall short of these high ideals,
for those who forget
who they are meant to be protecting and supporting,
give them ears to hear the voices of those they have power over
and hearts to listen in compassion.
We pray for those who make big decisions,
doctors and teachers, nurses and aid workers, parents and police.
Help them to listen to the needs of others.
We pray for all those who have to live with the decisions of others.
The powerless, the landless, and the disempowered.
We pray for our communities,
for less division and more cooperation,
less anger and more understanding.
We ask that you show us how to be the best neighbour that we can be.
We pray for our families for all the love we find there,
and for grace and forgiveness when things get hard.
We pray for ourselves,
you know when we fall short of being the best we can be,
you know when we find it hard to maintain our boundaries,
and when we fail in our compassion.
You know the things that keep us awake at night
and the things we look forward to.
Guide and protect us dear King.
Help us to be the good subjects of your Kingdom.
All these things we pray about with hope and trust,
in the name of Jeus who loves us and who left us these words,
Our Father…
Hymn The King of Love My Shepherd Is
H. W. Baker (1868) Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission
The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine forever.
Where streams of living water flow,
with gentle care he leads me;
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with heavenly food he feeds me.
Perverse and foolish, I have strayed,
but yet in love he sought me;
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.
And so through all the length of days,
your goodness fails me never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing your praise
within your house forever.
Blessing
May God the father who loves you,
Jesus the King who reigns over you,
and God the spirit who empowers you,
be with you and those you love and pray for,
now and forever. Amen.
--> Where words are copyright reproduced and streamed under the terms of ONE LICENSE A-734713
PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762
Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
update your preferences
or
unsubscribe from this list.
URC Daily Devotion Sunday 24 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Sunday 24 November 2024
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Sunday 24 November 2024 Christ the King Psalm 58
Do you truly speak justice, you who hold divine power?
Do you mete out fair judgement to the people of the land?
No, in your hearts you devise injustice;
your hands deal out violence to the land.
In their wickedness they have gone astray from their birth;
they wandered among lies as soon as they were born.
Their venom is like the venom of the snake;
they are heedless as the adder that turns a deaf ear
lest it should catch the snake-charmer's voice,
the voice of the skillful dealer in spells.
O God, break the teeth in their mouths,
tear out the fangs of these wild beasts, O Lord!
Let them vanish like water that runs away;
let them wither like grass that is trodden under foot:
let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
like a woman's miscarriage that never sees the sun.
Before they put forth thorns, like a bramble,
let them be swept away, green wood or dry!
The just shall rejoice at the sight of vengeance;
they shall bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
"Truly", all shall say, "the just are rewarded.
Truly there is a God who does justice on the earth."
Reflection
When Christ comes, what are we expecting?
This being the Sunday of Christ the King, the sovereignty and glory of Christ will be celebrated in many of our churches. Worship will marvel at the power of Christ, and we will proclaim his might. Some of the scriptures we will read will even paint an image of Christ which will have him charging into the world taking everything back by force. Yet, given the Jesus we know who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, is that what we are truly expecting when Christ returns?
The words of Psalm 58 go hand in hand with the image of a king who will let nothing get in his way. They relate to the image of a king who wields power like a two-edged sword and who slays injustice violently. The psalm is an expectation of what God will do when God comes. Yet, I ask again, is this what we are expecting when Christ comes?
This psalm is difficult because it calls on God to act in a way that one might not expect of God. It does, though, hold true with the prophetic image of God. God bringing justice in the way the psalmist desires is not completely unbiblical. However, the psalm is not God saying how God will act; it is a call on God to act in a certain way. When you have experienced unimaginable persecution, then such a brutally honest cry to God, as we find in Psalm 58, is almost understandable. On reflection, though, should a cry for God to bring vengeance really be on our lips? Well, our answer to that question is probably in what we are expecting when Christ comes!
Prayer
Sovereign God, you are all-powerful
to whom every knee should bow.
Nothing is beyond;
as easily as you create, you can destroy.
Yet, you love the world
and sent Jesus Christ to declare this,
suffering at the hands of those who thought they held all the power.
Through Jesus’s resurrection, though,
you proclaimed your justice: life!
Therefore, let your will be done
and let the earth truly know you
and your justice through Christ.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr Elaine Colechin, Minister, Bromley United Reformed Church Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Do you truly speak justice, you who hold divine power?
Do you mete out fair judgement to the people of the land?
No, in your hearts you devise injustice;
your hands deal out violence to the land.
In their wickedness they have gone astray from their birth;
they wandered among lies as soon as they were born.
Their venom is like the venom of the snake;
they are heedless as the adder that turns a deaf ear
lest it should catch the snake-charmer's voice,
the voice of the skillful dealer in spells.
O God, break the teeth in their mouths,
tear out the fangs of these wild beasts, O Lord!
Let them vanish like water that runs away;
let them wither like grass that is trodden under foot:
let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
like a woman's miscarriage that never sees the sun.
Before they put forth thorns, like a bramble,
let them be swept away, green wood or dry!
The just shall rejoice at the sight of vengeance;
they shall bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
"Truly", all shall say, "the just are rewarded.
Truly there is a God who does justice on the earth."
Reflection
When Christ comes, what are we expecting?
This being the Sunday of Christ the King, the sovereignty and glory of Christ will be celebrated in many of our churches. Worship will marvel at the power of Christ, and we will proclaim his might. Some of the scriptures we will read will even paint an image of Christ which will have him charging into the world taking everything back by force. Yet, given the Jesus we know who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, is that what we are truly expecting when Christ returns?
The words of Psalm 58 go hand in hand with the image of a king who will let nothing get in his way. They relate to the image of a king who wields power like a two-edged sword and who slays injustice violently. The psalm is an expectation of what God will do when God comes. Yet, I ask again, is this what we are expecting when Christ comes?
This psalm is difficult because it calls on God to act in a way that one might not expect of God. It does, though, hold true with the prophetic image of God. God bringing justice in the way the psalmist desires is not completely unbiblical. However, the psalm is not God saying how God will act; it is a call on God to act in a certain way. When you have experienced unimaginable persecution, then such a brutally honest cry to God, as we find in Psalm 58, is almost understandable. On reflection, though, should a cry for God to bring vengeance really be on our lips? Well, our answer to that question is probably in what we are expecting when Christ comes!
Prayer
Sovereign God, you are all-powerful
to whom every knee should bow.
Nothing is beyond;
as easily as you create, you can destroy.
Yet, you love the world
and sent Jesus Christ to declare this,
suffering at the hands of those who thought they held all the power.
Through Jesus’s resurrection, though,
you proclaimed your justice: life!
Therefore, let your will be done
and let the earth truly know you
and your justice through Christ.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr Elaine Colechin, Minister, Bromley United Reformed Church Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can
Change Your Email Address
or
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URC Daily Devotion Saturday 23 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Saturday 23 November 2024
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URC Daily Devotion Saturday 23 November 2024
Luke 1: 67 - 80
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Reflection
“You need to have a sit-down with your ego,” warned pop band The Saturdays in the 2010 hit, Ego. While that advice was aimed at an egotistical lover, the lyrics have echoed throughout this week’s Daily Devotion passages.
Shedding our ego is a theme that’s also explored in more spiritual depth by Franciscan friar and popular writer Richard Rohr. He asserts that letting go of one’s ego is necessary in order to focus on God, switching priorities from individuality to community.
Sadly, putting aside our egos is something we’re not always good at doing in churches. Too many of us like the sound of our own voice and forget we have two ears and only one mouth, a useful reminder about the need for balance between listening and speaking.
In today’s Bible passage, we have examples of not one but two people putting their own egos aside to prepare the way for others. First Zechariah, then John.
Over the past two days, we’ve followed the story of how Zechariah the priest was left unable to speak after hearing the news that his son would prepare the way for Jesus. Even though Zechariah’s incense offering took place away from public gaze, as a priest he was used to being the centre of attention.
Instead, he needs to put aside his own ego and focus on the work his son will complete for God. In today’s verses, he praises God for that mission.
As for John the Baptist, during the coming weeks of Advent we’ll remember how he became the voice in the wilderness, preparing the way for Jesus. It’s a call parents and guardians, ministers and Sunday school teachers, elders and deacons have answered too, down through the ages, setting aside their egos to nurture children and congregations.
As for us, in what ways do we need to put aside our own egos? Today and in the days ahead, who are the people we need to let speak instead?
Prayer
God of my mouth,
please help me to have a sit-down with my ego.
Please stop me from loving the sound of my own voice.
Please prevent me from drowning out the voices of the prophets that need to be heard.
God of my ears,
please help me to knock some sense into my ego.
Please stop me from speaking when I need to listen.
Please make me listen, and not just hear.
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
--> Today's writer Peter Ranscombe is a student at the Scottish College Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Luke 1: 67 - 80
Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:
‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them.
He has raised up a mighty saviour for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors,
and has remembered his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,
to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.
By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.’
The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.
Reflection
“You need to have a sit-down with your ego,” warned pop band The Saturdays in the 2010 hit, Ego. While that advice was aimed at an egotistical lover, the lyrics have echoed throughout this week’s Daily Devotion passages.
Shedding our ego is a theme that’s also explored in more spiritual depth by Franciscan friar and popular writer Richard Rohr. He asserts that letting go of one’s ego is necessary in order to focus on God, switching priorities from individuality to community.
Sadly, putting aside our egos is something we’re not always good at doing in churches. Too many of us like the sound of our own voice and forget we have two ears and only one mouth, a useful reminder about the need for balance between listening and speaking.
In today’s Bible passage, we have examples of not one but two people putting their own egos aside to prepare the way for others. First Zechariah, then John.
Over the past two days, we’ve followed the story of how Zechariah the priest was left unable to speak after hearing the news that his son would prepare the way for Jesus. Even though Zechariah’s incense offering took place away from public gaze, as a priest he was used to being the centre of attention.
Instead, he needs to put aside his own ego and focus on the work his son will complete for God. In today’s verses, he praises God for that mission.
As for John the Baptist, during the coming weeks of Advent we’ll remember how he became the voice in the wilderness, preparing the way for Jesus. It’s a call parents and guardians, ministers and Sunday school teachers, elders and deacons have answered too, down through the ages, setting aside their egos to nurture children and congregations.
As for us, in what ways do we need to put aside our own egos? Today and in the days ahead, who are the people we need to let speak instead?
Prayer
God of my mouth,
please help me to have a sit-down with my ego.
Please stop me from loving the sound of my own voice.
Please prevent me from drowning out the voices of the prophets that need to be heard.
God of my ears,
please help me to knock some sense into my ego.
Please stop me from speaking when I need to listen.
Please make me listen, and not just hear.
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
--> Today's writer Peter Ranscombe is a student at the Scottish College Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion Friday 22 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Friday 22 November 2024
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URC Daily Devotion Friday 22 November 2024
St Luke 1: 57 - 66
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Reflection
I have always been rather intrigued by the meaning of names; and so, when the time came to name our children, we chose names that we were fond of and then looked up their meanings to ensure that they were the characteristics which we would like our children to have, once grown. For example, one of the meanings of a name we liked was ‘weary cow’ (we didn’t think this was a particular characteristic we longed for in anyone) but spelt a different way means ‘bearer of good news’!
According to a webpage titled Behind the name, John means ‘YHWH is gracious’, and Zechariah means ‘YHWH remembers’. It’s as if the whole passage of Luke 1 is summed up in the meaning of these two names.
Elizabeth has not been able to have children – a curse in a culture where children are so valued to carry on one’s family name; and now she has, at an advanced age, given birth to a son, who, as we know, will announce his cousin’s Lordship. So not only was YHWH gracious (defined as ‘courteous, kind, and pleasant’ according to the online Oxford dictionary), in remembering Elizabeth and giving her a child, but YHWH is gracious (defined as ‘showing divine grace’) to the child who will be the first to recognise Jesus as the Messiah – both in the womb and then later in his own public ministry.
Priest Zechariah must have often wondered what YHWH was remembering, because perhaps he felt it wasn’t him! Until YHWH did remember! And the rest, as they say, is history.
We chose names for our children because of who we hope they will become, but YHWH chose us because of who we already are, no matter our name, no matter our age and no matter our status in society.
YHWH is gracious and remembers.
Prayer
YHWH, thank you that you are a remembering, gracious, personal God who, no matter who I am or where I may be in my life and faith journey, has not forgotten me and still calls me by name. Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Ruth Armstrong, Minister at The Vale URC Broadstairs and Hardres Street United Church, Ramsgate Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 1: 57 - 66
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. But his mother said, ‘No; he is to be called John.’ They said to her, ‘None of your relatives has this name.’ Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. He asked for a writing-tablet and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And all of them were amazed. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, ‘What then will this child become?’ For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.
Reflection
I have always been rather intrigued by the meaning of names; and so, when the time came to name our children, we chose names that we were fond of and then looked up their meanings to ensure that they were the characteristics which we would like our children to have, once grown. For example, one of the meanings of a name we liked was ‘weary cow’ (we didn’t think this was a particular characteristic we longed for in anyone) but spelt a different way means ‘bearer of good news’!
According to a webpage titled Behind the name, John means ‘YHWH is gracious’, and Zechariah means ‘YHWH remembers’. It’s as if the whole passage of Luke 1 is summed up in the meaning of these two names.
Elizabeth has not been able to have children – a curse in a culture where children are so valued to carry on one’s family name; and now she has, at an advanced age, given birth to a son, who, as we know, will announce his cousin’s Lordship. So not only was YHWH gracious (defined as ‘courteous, kind, and pleasant’ according to the online Oxford dictionary), in remembering Elizabeth and giving her a child, but YHWH is gracious (defined as ‘showing divine grace’) to the child who will be the first to recognise Jesus as the Messiah – both in the womb and then later in his own public ministry.
Priest Zechariah must have often wondered what YHWH was remembering, because perhaps he felt it wasn’t him! Until YHWH did remember! And the rest, as they say, is history.
We chose names for our children because of who we hope they will become, but YHWH chose us because of who we already are, no matter our name, no matter our age and no matter our status in society.
YHWH is gracious and remembers.
Prayer
YHWH, thank you that you are a remembering, gracious, personal God who, no matter who I am or where I may be in my life and faith journey, has not forgotten me and still calls me by name. Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Ruth Armstrong, Minister at The Vale URC Broadstairs and Hardres Street United Church, Ramsgate Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion Thursday 21 November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Thursday 21 November 2024
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Thursday 21 November 2024
St Luke 1: 5 - 24
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense-offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’
Reflection
When we read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth we are reading the story of two people whose lives did not turn out the way they expected. Upright people who have lived with disappointment, not through any fault of theirs. Is it any wonder then that Zechariah takes some convincing? He wants some evidence. Despite the angel telling him ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard’ he is doubtful. He stops just short of yelling 'fake news' at the angel, in his struggle to believe God is working on it.
It is seriously hard when it feels like our prayers are falling into silence. Those dark moments when we wonder if God is even listening. When we perhaps feel forgotten. This passage holds a reminder that God hears prayer. Zechariah’s years of waiting did not mean God had ignored him.
For Zechariah the answer simply came in God’s timing, which was far better and more miraculous than Zechariah could have imagined – he just had to be willing to hear God in return. Prayer is always a dialogue with God. We both speak and listen. God hears us, but we need to be open to hearing God’s voice in return, to being changed, to being called away from the easy answer we seek towards the work of justice and Kin(g)dom.
Prayer
Thank you God for hearing our prayers, spoken and unspoken, formed and formless.
Help us to listen to you speaking in the world around us. Silence us when necessary, and teach us to shout for justice when required.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Jo Clare-Young, Mission and Training Officer, Eastern Synod Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 1: 5 - 24
In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
Once when he was serving as priest before God and his section was on duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. Now at the time of the incense-offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, and wondered at his delay in the sanctuary. When he did come out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept motioning to them and remained unable to speak. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home.
After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she remained in seclusion. She said, ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favourably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’
Reflection
When we read the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth we are reading the story of two people whose lives did not turn out the way they expected. Upright people who have lived with disappointment, not through any fault of theirs. Is it any wonder then that Zechariah takes some convincing? He wants some evidence. Despite the angel telling him ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard’ he is doubtful. He stops just short of yelling 'fake news' at the angel, in his struggle to believe God is working on it.
It is seriously hard when it feels like our prayers are falling into silence. Those dark moments when we wonder if God is even listening. When we perhaps feel forgotten. This passage holds a reminder that God hears prayer. Zechariah’s years of waiting did not mean God had ignored him.
For Zechariah the answer simply came in God’s timing, which was far better and more miraculous than Zechariah could have imagined – he just had to be willing to hear God in return. Prayer is always a dialogue with God. We both speak and listen. God hears us, but we need to be open to hearing God’s voice in return, to being changed, to being called away from the easy answer we seek towards the work of justice and Kin(g)dom.
Prayer
Thank you God for hearing our prayers, spoken and unspoken, formed and formless.
Help us to listen to you speaking in the world around us. Silence us when necessary, and teach us to shout for justice when required.
Amen
--> Today's writer The Revd Jo Clare-Young, Mission and Training Officer, Eastern Synod Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion Wednesday 20th November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Wednesday 20th November 2024
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Wednesday 20 November 2024
St Luke 1: 1 - 4
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
Reflection
Mark launches his Gospel with “the beginning of the good news” Matthew takes us through a rather long, and confusing, genealogy whilst John gives us a dose of profound theology. Luke gives us a little bit of methodology. He tells us that “so many” have set down an “orderly account” of the events of Jesus' life. Only four of these accounts made it into the Bible; others that are around are rather odd. We know that Luke had material that wasn’t in Matthew or Mark (the angel Gabriel appearing to Zecharius and Mary, the birth of John the Baptist, Mary’s visit to her cousin, the words of the prayer the Hail Mary, the shepherds in the fields) and some material that he shared with Matthew (much of Jesus’ ethical teaching) and used all of what we now call Mark’s Gospel. We know that Matthew had some material that either Luke didn’t have or didn’t use (those blessed genealogies, Gabriel reassuring Joseph, the Magi and the Slaughter of the Innocents). And we know that John’s Gospel has lots of material not in the other three.
We shouldn’t be surprised, the editor of Luke tells us he is also setting out an orderly account. He doesn’t say he’s using these other sources but we can read. He also tells us why he’s doing this ‘so that you may know the truth..’ It’s one thing to see these ancient texts as things to be analysed and compared; it’s another to understand them as source material for what we know about Jesus, his life, and his teaching. Academic biblical study will focus on the texts, their sources, type, influence, historicity, and the editing processes used on them. Faith seeks to understand the texts as sources for a fruitful path of discipleship. At its best, the Church tries to hold together the various academic understandings along with faith in Jesus, the living Word of God.
Prayer
Dear God,
good students know their sources,
get their referencing right,
and learn to analyse to better understand.
Help us to understand You better
through the source material You’ve given us,
ancient words in the Bible, and your Living Word, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk URC in Kirkwall, Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke 1: 1 - 4
Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
Reflection
Mark launches his Gospel with “the beginning of the good news” Matthew takes us through a rather long, and confusing, genealogy whilst John gives us a dose of profound theology. Luke gives us a little bit of methodology. He tells us that “so many” have set down an “orderly account” of the events of Jesus' life. Only four of these accounts made it into the Bible; others that are around are rather odd. We know that Luke had material that wasn’t in Matthew or Mark (the angel Gabriel appearing to Zecharius and Mary, the birth of John the Baptist, Mary’s visit to her cousin, the words of the prayer the Hail Mary, the shepherds in the fields) and some material that he shared with Matthew (much of Jesus’ ethical teaching) and used all of what we now call Mark’s Gospel. We know that Matthew had some material that either Luke didn’t have or didn’t use (those blessed genealogies, Gabriel reassuring Joseph, the Magi and the Slaughter of the Innocents). And we know that John’s Gospel has lots of material not in the other three.
We shouldn’t be surprised, the editor of Luke tells us he is also setting out an orderly account. He doesn’t say he’s using these other sources but we can read. He also tells us why he’s doing this ‘so that you may know the truth..’ It’s one thing to see these ancient texts as things to be analysed and compared; it’s another to understand them as source material for what we know about Jesus, his life, and his teaching. Academic biblical study will focus on the texts, their sources, type, influence, historicity, and the editing processes used on them. Faith seeks to understand the texts as sources for a fruitful path of discipleship. At its best, the Church tries to hold together the various academic understandings along with faith in Jesus, the living Word of God.
Prayer
Dear God,
good students know their sources,
get their referencing right,
and learn to analyse to better understand.
Help us to understand You better
through the source material You’ve given us,
ancient words in the Bible, and your Living Word, Jesus Christ,
Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk URC in Kirkwall, Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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St Luke's Gospel
96
St Luke's Gospel
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St Luke's Gospel
Dear Friends,
It has been deeply moving to read so many of your comments and experiences over the last 10 days in response to the series on Safeguarding and the worship materials for last Sunday. As ever these series are planned, and written, months in advance; it was timely (but accidental), then, that they appeared just as the Makin Report was released. This report looked into John Smyth's sadistic abuse of boys and young men, the Church of England's failures in dealing with him properly over so many years and failings of senior church leaders. As you know this culminated in Justin Welby announcing his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury. Over the last 10 days we've thought about safeguarding, what leadership might look like, what justice might mean and how we might help our churches be safer. I hope these reflections have given food for thought; I know from the many people who've written to tell me of their own experiences how helpful some have found them.
We turn, tomorrow, to St Luke's Gospel which will be, on and off, the Gospel we read on Sundays from the first Sunday of Advent until this time next year. The Gospel of Luke tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts, accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament. The combined work divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the life of Jesus the Messiah from his birth to the beginning of his mission in the meeting with John the Baptist, followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes, and his Passion, death, and resurrection. Most modern scholars agree that the main sources used for Luke were a), the Gospel of Mark (which is copied almost in its entirety), b), a hypothetical sayings collection called the Q source and found also in Matthew but not John and Mark, and c), material found in no other gospels, often referred to as the L (for Luke) source (much of the Christmas story). The author is anonymous and there's no name in the text despite the work with a named recipient. The most probable date for its composition is around AD 80–110, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.
We start this work tomorrow but will jump over the Christmas story, looping back to it in late November, and continue our reading through of this Gospel until Easter next year.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev'd Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
-->
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Dear Friends,
It has been deeply moving to read so many of your comments and experiences over the last 10 days in response to the series on Safeguarding and the worship materials for last Sunday. As ever these series are planned, and written, months in advance; it was timely (but accidental), then, that they appeared just as the Makin Report was released. This report looked into John Smyth's sadistic abuse of boys and young men, the Church of England's failures in dealing with him properly over so many years and failings of senior church leaders. As you know this culminated in Justin Welby announcing his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury. Over the last 10 days we've thought about safeguarding, what leadership might look like, what justice might mean and how we might help our churches be safer. I hope these reflections have given food for thought; I know from the many people who've written to tell me of their own experiences how helpful some have found them.
We turn, tomorrow, to St Luke's Gospel which will be, on and off, the Gospel we read on Sundays from the first Sunday of Advent until this time next year. The Gospel of Luke tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts, accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament. The combined work divides the history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the life of Jesus the Messiah from his birth to the beginning of his mission in the meeting with John the Baptist, followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes, and his Passion, death, and resurrection. Most modern scholars agree that the main sources used for Luke were a), the Gospel of Mark (which is copied almost in its entirety), b), a hypothetical sayings collection called the Q source and found also in Matthew but not John and Mark, and c), material found in no other gospels, often referred to as the L (for Luke) source (much of the Christmas story). The author is anonymous and there's no name in the text despite the work with a named recipient. The most probable date for its composition is around AD 80–110, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century.
We start this work tomorrow but will jump over the Christmas story, looping back to it in late November, and continue our reading through of this Gospel until Easter next year.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev'd Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
-->
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URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 19th November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Tuesday 19th November 2024
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Tuesday 19 November 2024
Safeguarding 8 Let us build a (safe) house
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Reflection
Marty Haugen’s popular hymn Let Us Build A House Where Love Can Dwell is an exhortation to the Church reminding us to build a place where people can flourish, all are welcome, and diversity is a hallmark. It contains a compelling vision of the Church many warm to. If we are to build such a house we also need to ensure it is safe.
We know all too well the dreadful consequences of abuse, bullying, silencing, prejudice, and misogyny in church. I grew up, for example, simultaneously believing that the Church would be a safe place to grow and that it was not a place where I could fully be myself; Church is not always as safe as we think.
We work hard, in the United Reformed Church, to ensure that all are safe and welcome; we are good at ensuring that the contact details of safeguarding coordinators are prominently displayed. We are clear that, whilst we differ on whether same sex couples can get married in church, no one should be excluded from our life or ministry due to sexuality. We have rejoiced in women’s ordained ministry for over 100 years – something, amazingly, most Christians around the world still wrestle with.
There’s more we can do to be a safe house of prayer. We could:
Prayer
God our refuge,
You shake the mountains of our world,
You cause the Church to tremble
in the face of life’s foaming waters,
yet You offer calm in the storm.
Guide us to make Your Church
a place of refuge and safety, diversity and difference;
a place of growth and grace,
where we model what the world could be,
and proclaim Your coming Kingdom. Amen. --> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the URC’s Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk in Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Safeguarding 8 Let us build a (safe) house
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Reflection
Marty Haugen’s popular hymn Let Us Build A House Where Love Can Dwell is an exhortation to the Church reminding us to build a place where people can flourish, all are welcome, and diversity is a hallmark. It contains a compelling vision of the Church many warm to. If we are to build such a house we also need to ensure it is safe.
We know all too well the dreadful consequences of abuse, bullying, silencing, prejudice, and misogyny in church. I grew up, for example, simultaneously believing that the Church would be a safe place to grow and that it was not a place where I could fully be myself; Church is not always as safe as we think.
We work hard, in the United Reformed Church, to ensure that all are safe and welcome; we are good at ensuring that the contact details of safeguarding coordinators are prominently displayed. We are clear that, whilst we differ on whether same sex couples can get married in church, no one should be excluded from our life or ministry due to sexuality. We have rejoiced in women’s ordained ministry for over 100 years – something, amazingly, most Christians around the world still wrestle with.
There’s more we can do to be a safe house of prayer. We could:
- pray for those whose ministry includes safeguarding in the Church
- put posters for Women’s Aid or domestic abuse service on the inside doors of toilet cubicles
- pray for those who have yet to speak out and name their abuse
- collect for the local Refuge where both men and women flee
- pray for those struggling to understand and control their compulsions
- pray for, and model, ways of being male which honour and respect women
Prayer
God our refuge,
You shake the mountains of our world,
You cause the Church to tremble
in the face of life’s foaming waters,
yet You offer calm in the storm.
Guide us to make Your Church
a place of refuge and safety, diversity and difference;
a place of growth and grace,
where we model what the world could be,
and proclaim Your coming Kingdom. Amen. --> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the URC’s Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk in Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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URC Daily Devotion Monday 18th November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Monday 18th November 2024
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Monday 18 November 2024
Safeguarding 7 Leadership Criteria
1 Timothy 3: 1 - 13
The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way — for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.
Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Reflection
There’s much to ponder in these early instructions for Christian leaders; the Greek might mean “overseer” and the term “bishop” might not have meant then what we might mean it now. We live in a world where there are women ministers and bishops. In the paragraph about deacons it’s possible that “women” might have meant “women deacons”. However, the focus for today is thinking about leadership criteria in regards to safeguarding. Contemporary criteria for church leadership might include:
Whoever aspires to leadership in the Church desires a noble task. Leaders must have no unspent criminal convictions, live a stable life with honest personal relationships, be temperate, sensible, hospitable, be good teachers, not suffer uncontrolled addictions, not be violent or have unresolved issues with anger. They must be gentle, not argumentative, not be lovers of money and must manage themselves well, being self aware and committed to ongoing supervision to help this awareness grow. If married they should treat spouses well with love and fidelity. Any children must be loved and well treated; for if someone does not know how to be in loving relationships how on earth will they succeed in pastoral care? Leaders must not be recent converts, or they may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil - and the press. They should be humble and approachable. They should be willing to be trained for their roles and to undertake refresher training realising they always have much to learn. Church leaders know how to control their tongues and to hold on fast to the essentials of faith. They know they are to be accountable to others.
For a long time the Church has had impossible standards for leaders; now we tend to think of leadership as something akin to a covenant - with responsibilities and rights on both sides. This is healthier and gives, I think, a more realistic view of leadership and helps us when things go wrong, as they invariably will.
Prayer
Safeguarding God,
help us to nurture those You raise up as leaders,
and to live with mutual accountability,
that Your people might be loved,
the wounded tended, the vulnerable cared for,
and Your Church be ever safer. Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the URC’s Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk in Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Safeguarding 7 Leadership Criteria
1 Timothy 3: 1 - 13
The saying is sure: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task. Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children submissive and respectful in every way — for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace and the snare of the devil.
Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
Reflection
There’s much to ponder in these early instructions for Christian leaders; the Greek might mean “overseer” and the term “bishop” might not have meant then what we might mean it now. We live in a world where there are women ministers and bishops. In the paragraph about deacons it’s possible that “women” might have meant “women deacons”. However, the focus for today is thinking about leadership criteria in regards to safeguarding. Contemporary criteria for church leadership might include:
Whoever aspires to leadership in the Church desires a noble task. Leaders must have no unspent criminal convictions, live a stable life with honest personal relationships, be temperate, sensible, hospitable, be good teachers, not suffer uncontrolled addictions, not be violent or have unresolved issues with anger. They must be gentle, not argumentative, not be lovers of money and must manage themselves well, being self aware and committed to ongoing supervision to help this awareness grow. If married they should treat spouses well with love and fidelity. Any children must be loved and well treated; for if someone does not know how to be in loving relationships how on earth will they succeed in pastoral care? Leaders must not be recent converts, or they may be puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil - and the press. They should be humble and approachable. They should be willing to be trained for their roles and to undertake refresher training realising they always have much to learn. Church leaders know how to control their tongues and to hold on fast to the essentials of faith. They know they are to be accountable to others.
For a long time the Church has had impossible standards for leaders; now we tend to think of leadership as something akin to a covenant - with responsibilities and rights on both sides. This is healthier and gives, I think, a more realistic view of leadership and helps us when things go wrong, as they invariably will.
Prayer
Safeguarding God,
help us to nurture those You raise up as leaders,
and to live with mutual accountability,
that Your people might be loved,
the wounded tended, the vulnerable cared for,
and Your Church be ever safer. Amen.
--> Today's writer The Revd Andy Braunston is the URC’s Minister for Digital Worship and a member of the Peedie Kirk in Orkney. Copyright New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Change Your Email Address
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Sunday Worship 17 November 2024
96
Sunday Worship 17 November 2024
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Worship Services from the URC
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Order of Service
Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 17 November 2024
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Introduction
Hello and welcome to worship for Safeguarding Sunday. As we hear Tracy Chapman’s haunting song about domestic violence fade away we think about this year’s theme for Safeguarding Sunday “let’s talk about it”. For some this will mean talking about what’s happened to them, for others it’s about talking about how to make the Church a safe refuge to find God, our shelter in the storm, and to find strength there to bring about change. Our readings today all speak of finding safety, security and shelter in God amidst tumultuous times. They are a good starting place to think about the role of safeguarding in the church as we seek to make our congregations places of safety, security and shelter. My name is Andy Braunston and I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship. I live in Orkney off Scotland’s far north coast and am a member of the Peedie Kirk URC there. Let’s worship God together.
Call to Worship
Arise in times of anguish and come to God, who delivers us.
Listen to God’s voice so that we awaken
to everlasting life not everlasting contempt.
See through the light in the gloom to perceive God’s glory
shine as the brightness of the day, like the stars forever and ever.
Hymn We Cannot Measure How You Heal
John Bell © 1989, WGRG the Iona Community (Scotland), admin. GIA Publications, Inc Sung by Ruth and Joy Everingham and used with their kind permission. OneLicence # A-734713
We cannot measure how You heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross,
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds,
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside,
the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need Your help
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let Your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain
and make Your broken people whole.
Prayers of Approach, Confession, and Grace
We come to meet You, delivering God, in an age of uncertainty;
we greet You with our pain and our praise,
seeking healing in our weary woundedness.
We cannot measure how You heal or answer our prayers,
yet faith and doubt combine to give us glimpses of Your coming Kingdom
where public and private agony will find peace.
We gather at Your table, Liberating Jesus, to be fed by Your own self,
to see Your hands hold, heal, and warn when we go astray
and embrace us in welcome when we turn back to You.
In times of difficulty, we are tempted to trust
in our wealth, politicians, and armies instead of in You.
Forgive us when we turn away from You,
when we cling to the safety of our pain, fear and memories
which haunt us,
and when we trust in anything other than You.
Give us the courage to heal, to turn back to, and trust in, You.
We discern your presence, Most Holy Spirit,
as perfume in the air, as light in the gloom, as joy in despair;
meet us here, O God, to mend and tend us,
to disentangle peace from our pain,
and to make Your broken people whole. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Bless us, O God, with Your counsel,
as the Word is read and proclaimed.
Instruct our lives and gladden our hearts
that as we hear and think,
You may stir us to action and show us the path of life
where, in Your presence, there is fullness of joy. Amen
Reading Daniel 12:1-3
"At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Psalm 16
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
As for the holy ones in the land,
they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the LORD, who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Hymn Heaven Shall Not Wait
John L. Bell (b.1949) and Graham Maule (b.1958) © WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH Scotland. OneLicence # A-734713 Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir accompanied by Andrew Ellams. Produced by Rev'd Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.
Heaven shall not wait for the poor to lose their patience,
the scorned to smile, the despised to find a friend:
Jesus is Lord;he has championed the unwanted;
in him injustice confronts its timely end.
Heaven shall not wait for the rich to share their fortunes,
the proud to fall, the elite to tend the least:
Jesus is Lord;he has shown the master's privilege
to kneel and wash servants' feet before they feast.
Heaven shall not wait for the dawn of great ideas,
thoughts of compassion divorced from cries of pain:
Jesus is Lord; he has married word and action;
his cross and company make his purpose plain.
Heaven shall not wait for triumphant Hallelujahs,
when earth has passed and we reach another shore:
Jesus is Lord in our present imperfection;
his power and love are for now; and then for evermore.
Reading St Mark 13:1-8
As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?" Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Sermon
Living so far north we are lucky to have regular opportunities to see the Northern Lights or, as they are called in Orkney, the Merry Dancers. I have an app on my phone which alerts me but takes no account of cloud cover nor the fact one can’t see the Dancers in daylight. A much more accurate alert is provided by our neighbour who excitedly bangs on our windows to tell us! The odd thing about the Merry Dancers is that they aren’t very exciting to look at with the naked eye - coming across as, at best, a shimmering green-grey light or, at worst, a slightly lighter bit of cloud. However, once you realise these are the Northern Lights, they can look spectacular when photographed. This makes me wonder which is the reality – what I can see with my eyes or what I can see in a picture. Our eyes give a glimpse of what’s there, but a fuller truth is revealed in a picture where the lens picks up the colours and shows us a different reality.
In some ways that shouldn’t surprise us. As Christians we pray for the Kingdom to come; we read of Jesus’ acts of power and love showing the Kingdom breaking into His world, we read his parables and his teaching which shows us how we can embody God’s Kingdom in our lives and loves but, at the same time, we know the Kingdom isn’t fully here, the world isn’t as it should be, injustice and evil haven’t been banished, people still suffer, the earth still groans from our harmful activities. Just as our naked eyes catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights so we catch glimpses of the Kingdom breaking in - yet we don’t yet see it fully revealed.
There are many places in our world where we long for the Kingdom to break in more fully. We live in uncertain times; who would have predicted the breakout of riots in the summer in many cities in England and Northern Ireland? We’ve elected a new UK government who seem to make much of the economic legacy they’ve inherited and are concentrating on telling how bad it is rather than being hopeful about change; sunny uplands seem to be as far away as the coming Kingdom. As I write, the outcome of the American election hangs in the balance but will be known when this sermon is published. Has the American public voted for the strong white man with easy answers or the nuanced mixed-race woman who ran for office with a sense of joy? Life is hard for those struggling to get by – the reduction of support for pensioners this winter will hit some very hard indeed; countless people struggle to afford to rent somewhere decent to live and for many the dream of owning their own home is a laughable fiction. Many of those who have had to live with various forms of abuse have not been believed when they told their stories; horrifically some experienced abuse within the Church. Our faith tells us the Kingdom is coming and will shine like the glorious colours of the Merry Dancers, yet our eyes only show a glimmer in the dark. This sense of trusting there’s more going on underpins our three readings today.
Daniel is a difficult book – it doesn’t appear much in the Lectionary. It was written to encourage faithful discipleship in the face of a powerful oppressive empire which neither understood nor cared about Jewish life and practice. Against this imperial oppression the author of Daniel asserts God’s sovereignty. Today’s passage concerns a power vacuum after the death of a king - all changes of government can be disruptive; in the ancient world a peaceful transition of power that we (hopefully) see in democracies today was not guaranteed. Rival claimants to a throne might battle it out and the ability to quietly get on with life became more and more difficult.
Daniel offers comfort that this change too will pass. Daniel introduces Michael into the equation as a great ruler who will protect God’s people; the name “Michael” means “who is like God?” and later tradition saw Michael as an archangel. The passage is a rare glimpse of Jewish belief in an afterlife; the idea is to provide hope, relief to those suffering and to show that God is not far away. Daniel thinks those who remained true to God under the oppression of empire will rise to light and life whilst those who weren’t faithful will rise to shame and contempt. Those who have faith can see beyond the dull light and see the colours and glory of God's coming Kingdom.
Like the passage from Daniel, Psalm 16 is about offering hope in uncertain times. The poet opens by asking for God’s protection and refuge. In our contemporary society we are constantly told to be afraid – the Climate Emergency demands our attention but little action, it seems, from our politicians. The media tells us of the dangers of smoking or eating too much sugar, of crime and fear of the outsider. These stories attract attention, they sell. They are amplified in our social media echo chambers. The Psalmist seeks to reassure and offers an antidote to fear; trust in the Lord and ignore those who say otherwise. The Psalm opens and closes with assertions of trust in God; in uncertain and dangerous times this is what matters; uncertainty can produce anxiety, living with danger can be horrific. The Psalmist offers faith in God as a source of stability, security and strength. God is not just a shelter from the storms and pains of life but a means by which injustice, pain, abuse, oppression and fear can be resisted and subverted. Those who have faith can see beyond the dull light and see the colours, glory and change embodied in God's coming Kingdom.
Daniel faced moving political tectonic plates in the ancient near east. Jesus also looked to world changing events. The destruction of the Temple came in the year 70; all that remains now are parts of the Western Wall and an area where the Temple was to be expanded – now with a mosque on the site. The area is often in the news and is called the Haram al-Sharif or the Temple Mount. In Jesus’ time the Temple was the centre of Jewish life and worship; to imagine the destruction of this Temple would have been horrific. In such horrible times anyone who offers certainty might be believed and followed. We’ve seen in our political life the rise of the strong leader who offers certainty, easy answers to difficult questions, and who blame the weak and vulnerable for problems caused by systems controlled by the rich. Jesus’ warning not to follow those who promise such answers in times of cataclysmic change is useful for us now to remember in times of political and environmental change. Instead of the strong leader, the problem-solving blamers, we need to cling to Jesus who offers us true security in an age of change where we don’t often see justice, where the powerful manage to stay in power even when governments change, and when social media conspires with those who pedal hate to drive up fearful ratings. Jesus’ good news can seem like fiction in an age of horror; we long for the glory of the Northern Lights but see only a dim glow in the sky. Yet Jesus’ presence can comfort, inspire, strengthen, move us to action and remind us that the eyes of faith see more than our own naked eyes.
What might these passages teach us, then, today – especially as we mark Safeguarding Sunday. Daniel, in the face of overpowering forces, reminds us that God is near, looks after His faithful people, and - whilst there may not be justice in this world - the resurrection offers a hint of justice in the next. Those imperial systems of oppression, injustice, patriarchy, and violence will be defeated and those who operate them and hide behind them will be punished. Whilst we work to make our churches and our institutions safer places we know that many who abuse will not face justice; people are often not believed, evidence can be hard to get, and lies are often credible. Holding fast to the glory and colour of God’s justice beyond the dim flickers of our own systems of justice can provide hope and the power to heal. The Psalmist reminds us that the security which comes from God’s love can give strength to speak and to act. The Church should always be a place of strength and safety encouraging all to speak out to find both justice and dignity. When abuse is perpetuated, tolerated, or covered up by the Church we betray our fundamental calling and further obscure the signs of the Kingdom breaking through. Jesus calls us, again and again, to trust in Him – something made more difficult if the Church proves untrustworthy. In all these situations of pain, confusion and injustice these readings offer hope. Daniel’s assertion that God safeguards His people with justice – even justice that happens beyond the grave as it is denied in life – offers hope. The Psalmist’s certainty that in God we find safety and security gives a space for action - to tell the truth, to demand justice, to cry for change. Jesus’ words in the Gospel reading remind us to look for him as the calm centre in the storms and struggles of life; not simply as a refuge but as a place to regroup, heal and work for change.
So, as I walk my dogs last thing at night and gaze at the sky I sometimes get glimpses of colour, glory, and power that I can’t quite see. As we live our lives of quiet discipleship we get glimpses of the Kingdom breaking in, releasing the captive, healing the wounded, and allowing the silenced to speak. As we pray and as we proclaim God’s Kingdom, His power, glory, and love, break in forever changing us and our world.
Let’s pray:
Justice-bringing God
help us to see beyond the drabness of the news
into the glorious colours of your kingdom;
that as we yearn and work for its coming,
you will help us make all things right. Amen.
Hymn The Kingdom of God is Justice and Joy
Bryn Rees (1973) © 1973, Alexander Scott OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by the Revd Paul Robinson and used with his kind permission.
The kingdom of God is justice and joy;
for Jesus restores what sin would destroy.
God's power and glory in Jesus we know;
and here and hereafter the kingdom shall grow.
The kingdom of God is mercy and grace;
the prisoners are freed, the sinners find place,
the outcast are welcomed God's banquet to share;
and hope is awakened in place of despair.
The kingdom of God is challenge and choice:
believe the good news, repent and rejoice!
His love for us sinners brought Christ to His cross:
our crisis of judgement for gain or for loss.
God's kingdom is come, the gift and the goal;
in Jesus begun, in heaven made whole.
The heirs of the kingdom shall answer his call;
and all things cry "Glory!" to God all in all.
An Act of Commitment
As God’s people we are called to glimpse the glory of the coming Kingdom, where all are safe and valued, where justice shines like the stars at night, and where all hurts are healed. As God’s people we are called to make our churches reflect the values of the coming Kingdom and so I ask:
Will you show God’s love by treating everyone with respect and dignity,
love and grace, seeking to harm no one?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you help make and keep this congregation safe and support all those who have safeguarding responsibilities?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you make space for those who’ve been hurt and harmed?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you work for the Kingdom so that all might be safe,
those who face justice will find the grace of repentance, self-knowledge, and change, and so that healing becomes a hallmark of the Church?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you learn to see beyond the gloom and use the eyes of faith to see
the light, colour, excitement, and energy of God’s coming Kingdom?
With the help of God, we will.
May the God who began this good work within you,
continue it until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Amen.
Intercessions
Loving God,
we lay before you the challenges that confront us
at home, at work, in our communities and churches.
May your Son, the Good Shepherd,
guide and shape the life of your Church
that all may find a welcome, secure in your presence.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Renew your Church in the love of truth and in passion for justice.
Take from us all hypocrisy and deceit, and teach us to serve with humility and honesty those whose lives are broken.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Help us to cherish children and all in our community who are vulnerable,
to protect them, and keep them safe.
May this place rejoice to be a place
where your love is celebrated with integrity.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Bring into your healing presence
all who have been damaged and diminished by abuse,
or whose lives continue to be overshadowed by guilt or fear,
may sorrows be shared and memories be healed.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
May those who have been damaged by abuse
not simply survive, but flourish.
May young and old discover your life-giving love,
and delight in your gift of life,
so that fun, laughter and joy overflow to your glory.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Merciful Creator,
accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying: Our Father…
Offertory
Giving is at the heart of our faith: God so loved the world that Jesus was given for its sake. Jesus poured out himself in love to his friends and, on the Cross, for us. The Holy Spirit gives us any number of graces to help us be faithful disciples. We respond to God’s self-giving love through our own attempts to follow, through loving service of others and through the giving of our financial offerings. We now pray for the gifts of grace and wisdom.
Giving God,
You shower your blessings upon us,
giving us gifts to herald Your coming Kingdom;
give us the grace and wisdom we need to see Your light in the gloom,
to see through faith You at work in our midst.
Bring light and life to all.
Bless this money which we offer to you,
and help us to use it wisely that it too may be a sign of Your love. Amen.
Hymn God’s Spirit is in My Heart
Alan Dale, Hubert Richards © 1982, Kevin Mayhew sung by Matt Beckingham and used with his kind permission. OneLicence # A-734713
God’s Spirit is in my heart
He has called me and set me apart.
This is what I have to do,
what I have to do
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Just as the Father sent me
so I’m sending you out to be,
my witnesses throughout the world,
the whole of the world.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Don’t carry a load in your pack,
you don’t need two shirts on your back;
God’s workers can earn their own keep,
can earn their own keep.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Don’t worry what you have to say,
don’t worry because on that day
God’s Spirit will speak in your heart,
will speak in your heart.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Blessing
May the One whose realm shines like the stars at night,
the One who brings good news to the poor and downtrodden,
the One who brings love, live and laughter,
enable you to shine with the joy of the Kingdom,
encourage you to proclaim good news,
and energise you with divine healing,
and the blessing of Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be with you all, now and always, Amen.
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Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today's service. You can either simply read this or you can
click here
to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns. This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol. Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service. Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church
for Sunday 17 November 2024
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Introduction
Hello and welcome to worship for Safeguarding Sunday. As we hear Tracy Chapman’s haunting song about domestic violence fade away we think about this year’s theme for Safeguarding Sunday “let’s talk about it”. For some this will mean talking about what’s happened to them, for others it’s about talking about how to make the Church a safe refuge to find God, our shelter in the storm, and to find strength there to bring about change. Our readings today all speak of finding safety, security and shelter in God amidst tumultuous times. They are a good starting place to think about the role of safeguarding in the church as we seek to make our congregations places of safety, security and shelter. My name is Andy Braunston and I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship. I live in Orkney off Scotland’s far north coast and am a member of the Peedie Kirk URC there. Let’s worship God together.
Call to Worship
Arise in times of anguish and come to God, who delivers us.
Listen to God’s voice so that we awaken
to everlasting life not everlasting contempt.
See through the light in the gloom to perceive God’s glory
shine as the brightness of the day, like the stars forever and ever.
Hymn We Cannot Measure How You Heal
John Bell © 1989, WGRG the Iona Community (Scotland), admin. GIA Publications, Inc Sung by Ruth and Joy Everingham and used with their kind permission. OneLicence # A-734713
We cannot measure how You heal
or answer every sufferer’s prayer,
yet we believe your grace responds
where faith and doubt unite to care.
Your hands, though bloodied on the cross,
survive to hold and heal and warn,
to carry all through death to life
and cradle children yet unborn.
The pain that will not go away,
the guilt that clings from things long past,
the fear of what the future holds,
are present as if meant to last.
But present too is love which tends
the hurt we never hoped to find,
the private agonies inside,
the memories that haunt the mind.
So some have come who need Your help
and some have come to make amends,
as hands which shaped and saved the world
are present in the touch of friends.
Lord, let Your Spirit meet us here
to mend the body, mind and soul,
to disentangle peace from pain
and make Your broken people whole.
Prayers of Approach, Confession, and Grace
We come to meet You, delivering God, in an age of uncertainty;
we greet You with our pain and our praise,
seeking healing in our weary woundedness.
We cannot measure how You heal or answer our prayers,
yet faith and doubt combine to give us glimpses of Your coming Kingdom
where public and private agony will find peace.
We gather at Your table, Liberating Jesus, to be fed by Your own self,
to see Your hands hold, heal, and warn when we go astray
and embrace us in welcome when we turn back to You.
In times of difficulty, we are tempted to trust
in our wealth, politicians, and armies instead of in You.
Forgive us when we turn away from You,
when we cling to the safety of our pain, fear and memories
which haunt us,
and when we trust in anything other than You.
Give us the courage to heal, to turn back to, and trust in, You.
We discern your presence, Most Holy Spirit,
as perfume in the air, as light in the gloom, as joy in despair;
meet us here, O God, to mend and tend us,
to disentangle peace from our pain,
and to make Your broken people whole. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Bless us, O God, with Your counsel,
as the Word is read and proclaimed.
Instruct our lives and gladden our hearts
that as we hear and think,
You may stir us to action and show us the path of life
where, in Your presence, there is fullness of joy. Amen
Reading Daniel 12:1-3
"At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Psalm 16
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
As for the holy ones in the land,
they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the LORD, who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Hymn Heaven Shall Not Wait
John L. Bell (b.1949) and Graham Maule (b.1958) © WGRG, Iona Community, Glasgow G2 3DH Scotland. OneLicence # A-734713 Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir accompanied by Andrew Ellams. Produced by Rev'd Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.
Heaven shall not wait for the poor to lose their patience,
the scorned to smile, the despised to find a friend:
Jesus is Lord;he has championed the unwanted;
in him injustice confronts its timely end.
Heaven shall not wait for the rich to share their fortunes,
the proud to fall, the elite to tend the least:
Jesus is Lord;he has shown the master's privilege
to kneel and wash servants' feet before they feast.
Heaven shall not wait for the dawn of great ideas,
thoughts of compassion divorced from cries of pain:
Jesus is Lord; he has married word and action;
his cross and company make his purpose plain.
Heaven shall not wait for triumphant Hallelujahs,
when earth has passed and we reach another shore:
Jesus is Lord in our present imperfection;
his power and love are for now; and then for evermore.
Reading St Mark 13:1-8
As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!" Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down." When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?" Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Sermon
Living so far north we are lucky to have regular opportunities to see the Northern Lights or, as they are called in Orkney, the Merry Dancers. I have an app on my phone which alerts me but takes no account of cloud cover nor the fact one can’t see the Dancers in daylight. A much more accurate alert is provided by our neighbour who excitedly bangs on our windows to tell us! The odd thing about the Merry Dancers is that they aren’t very exciting to look at with the naked eye - coming across as, at best, a shimmering green-grey light or, at worst, a slightly lighter bit of cloud. However, once you realise these are the Northern Lights, they can look spectacular when photographed. This makes me wonder which is the reality – what I can see with my eyes or what I can see in a picture. Our eyes give a glimpse of what’s there, but a fuller truth is revealed in a picture where the lens picks up the colours and shows us a different reality.
In some ways that shouldn’t surprise us. As Christians we pray for the Kingdom to come; we read of Jesus’ acts of power and love showing the Kingdom breaking into His world, we read his parables and his teaching which shows us how we can embody God’s Kingdom in our lives and loves but, at the same time, we know the Kingdom isn’t fully here, the world isn’t as it should be, injustice and evil haven’t been banished, people still suffer, the earth still groans from our harmful activities. Just as our naked eyes catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights so we catch glimpses of the Kingdom breaking in - yet we don’t yet see it fully revealed.
There are many places in our world where we long for the Kingdom to break in more fully. We live in uncertain times; who would have predicted the breakout of riots in the summer in many cities in England and Northern Ireland? We’ve elected a new UK government who seem to make much of the economic legacy they’ve inherited and are concentrating on telling how bad it is rather than being hopeful about change; sunny uplands seem to be as far away as the coming Kingdom. As I write, the outcome of the American election hangs in the balance but will be known when this sermon is published. Has the American public voted for the strong white man with easy answers or the nuanced mixed-race woman who ran for office with a sense of joy? Life is hard for those struggling to get by – the reduction of support for pensioners this winter will hit some very hard indeed; countless people struggle to afford to rent somewhere decent to live and for many the dream of owning their own home is a laughable fiction. Many of those who have had to live with various forms of abuse have not been believed when they told their stories; horrifically some experienced abuse within the Church. Our faith tells us the Kingdom is coming and will shine like the glorious colours of the Merry Dancers, yet our eyes only show a glimmer in the dark. This sense of trusting there’s more going on underpins our three readings today.
Daniel is a difficult book – it doesn’t appear much in the Lectionary. It was written to encourage faithful discipleship in the face of a powerful oppressive empire which neither understood nor cared about Jewish life and practice. Against this imperial oppression the author of Daniel asserts God’s sovereignty. Today’s passage concerns a power vacuum after the death of a king - all changes of government can be disruptive; in the ancient world a peaceful transition of power that we (hopefully) see in democracies today was not guaranteed. Rival claimants to a throne might battle it out and the ability to quietly get on with life became more and more difficult.
Daniel offers comfort that this change too will pass. Daniel introduces Michael into the equation as a great ruler who will protect God’s people; the name “Michael” means “who is like God?” and later tradition saw Michael as an archangel. The passage is a rare glimpse of Jewish belief in an afterlife; the idea is to provide hope, relief to those suffering and to show that God is not far away. Daniel thinks those who remained true to God under the oppression of empire will rise to light and life whilst those who weren’t faithful will rise to shame and contempt. Those who have faith can see beyond the dull light and see the colours and glory of God's coming Kingdom.
Like the passage from Daniel, Psalm 16 is about offering hope in uncertain times. The poet opens by asking for God’s protection and refuge. In our contemporary society we are constantly told to be afraid – the Climate Emergency demands our attention but little action, it seems, from our politicians. The media tells us of the dangers of smoking or eating too much sugar, of crime and fear of the outsider. These stories attract attention, they sell. They are amplified in our social media echo chambers. The Psalmist seeks to reassure and offers an antidote to fear; trust in the Lord and ignore those who say otherwise. The Psalm opens and closes with assertions of trust in God; in uncertain and dangerous times this is what matters; uncertainty can produce anxiety, living with danger can be horrific. The Psalmist offers faith in God as a source of stability, security and strength. God is not just a shelter from the storms and pains of life but a means by which injustice, pain, abuse, oppression and fear can be resisted and subverted. Those who have faith can see beyond the dull light and see the colours, glory and change embodied in God's coming Kingdom.
Daniel faced moving political tectonic plates in the ancient near east. Jesus also looked to world changing events. The destruction of the Temple came in the year 70; all that remains now are parts of the Western Wall and an area where the Temple was to be expanded – now with a mosque on the site. The area is often in the news and is called the Haram al-Sharif or the Temple Mount. In Jesus’ time the Temple was the centre of Jewish life and worship; to imagine the destruction of this Temple would have been horrific. In such horrible times anyone who offers certainty might be believed and followed. We’ve seen in our political life the rise of the strong leader who offers certainty, easy answers to difficult questions, and who blame the weak and vulnerable for problems caused by systems controlled by the rich. Jesus’ warning not to follow those who promise such answers in times of cataclysmic change is useful for us now to remember in times of political and environmental change. Instead of the strong leader, the problem-solving blamers, we need to cling to Jesus who offers us true security in an age of change where we don’t often see justice, where the powerful manage to stay in power even when governments change, and when social media conspires with those who pedal hate to drive up fearful ratings. Jesus’ good news can seem like fiction in an age of horror; we long for the glory of the Northern Lights but see only a dim glow in the sky. Yet Jesus’ presence can comfort, inspire, strengthen, move us to action and remind us that the eyes of faith see more than our own naked eyes.
What might these passages teach us, then, today – especially as we mark Safeguarding Sunday. Daniel, in the face of overpowering forces, reminds us that God is near, looks after His faithful people, and - whilst there may not be justice in this world - the resurrection offers a hint of justice in the next. Those imperial systems of oppression, injustice, patriarchy, and violence will be defeated and those who operate them and hide behind them will be punished. Whilst we work to make our churches and our institutions safer places we know that many who abuse will not face justice; people are often not believed, evidence can be hard to get, and lies are often credible. Holding fast to the glory and colour of God’s justice beyond the dim flickers of our own systems of justice can provide hope and the power to heal. The Psalmist reminds us that the security which comes from God’s love can give strength to speak and to act. The Church should always be a place of strength and safety encouraging all to speak out to find both justice and dignity. When abuse is perpetuated, tolerated, or covered up by the Church we betray our fundamental calling and further obscure the signs of the Kingdom breaking through. Jesus calls us, again and again, to trust in Him – something made more difficult if the Church proves untrustworthy. In all these situations of pain, confusion and injustice these readings offer hope. Daniel’s assertion that God safeguards His people with justice – even justice that happens beyond the grave as it is denied in life – offers hope. The Psalmist’s certainty that in God we find safety and security gives a space for action - to tell the truth, to demand justice, to cry for change. Jesus’ words in the Gospel reading remind us to look for him as the calm centre in the storms and struggles of life; not simply as a refuge but as a place to regroup, heal and work for change.
So, as I walk my dogs last thing at night and gaze at the sky I sometimes get glimpses of colour, glory, and power that I can’t quite see. As we live our lives of quiet discipleship we get glimpses of the Kingdom breaking in, releasing the captive, healing the wounded, and allowing the silenced to speak. As we pray and as we proclaim God’s Kingdom, His power, glory, and love, break in forever changing us and our world.
Let’s pray:
Justice-bringing God
help us to see beyond the drabness of the news
into the glorious colours of your kingdom;
that as we yearn and work for its coming,
you will help us make all things right. Amen.
Hymn The Kingdom of God is Justice and Joy
Bryn Rees (1973) © 1973, Alexander Scott OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by the Revd Paul Robinson and used with his kind permission.
The kingdom of God is justice and joy;
for Jesus restores what sin would destroy.
God's power and glory in Jesus we know;
and here and hereafter the kingdom shall grow.
The kingdom of God is mercy and grace;
the prisoners are freed, the sinners find place,
the outcast are welcomed God's banquet to share;
and hope is awakened in place of despair.
The kingdom of God is challenge and choice:
believe the good news, repent and rejoice!
His love for us sinners brought Christ to His cross:
our crisis of judgement for gain or for loss.
God's kingdom is come, the gift and the goal;
in Jesus begun, in heaven made whole.
The heirs of the kingdom shall answer his call;
and all things cry "Glory!" to God all in all.
An Act of Commitment
As God’s people we are called to glimpse the glory of the coming Kingdom, where all are safe and valued, where justice shines like the stars at night, and where all hurts are healed. As God’s people we are called to make our churches reflect the values of the coming Kingdom and so I ask:
Will you show God’s love by treating everyone with respect and dignity,
love and grace, seeking to harm no one?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you help make and keep this congregation safe and support all those who have safeguarding responsibilities?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you make space for those who’ve been hurt and harmed?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you work for the Kingdom so that all might be safe,
those who face justice will find the grace of repentance, self-knowledge, and change, and so that healing becomes a hallmark of the Church?
With the help of God, we will.
Will you learn to see beyond the gloom and use the eyes of faith to see
the light, colour, excitement, and energy of God’s coming Kingdom?
With the help of God, we will.
May the God who began this good work within you,
continue it until it is finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. Amen.
Intercessions
Loving God,
we lay before you the challenges that confront us
at home, at work, in our communities and churches.
May your Son, the Good Shepherd,
guide and shape the life of your Church
that all may find a welcome, secure in your presence.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Renew your Church in the love of truth and in passion for justice.
Take from us all hypocrisy and deceit, and teach us to serve with humility and honesty those whose lives are broken.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Help us to cherish children and all in our community who are vulnerable,
to protect them, and keep them safe.
May this place rejoice to be a place
where your love is celebrated with integrity.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Bring into your healing presence
all who have been damaged and diminished by abuse,
or whose lives continue to be overshadowed by guilt or fear,
may sorrows be shared and memories be healed.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
May those who have been damaged by abuse
not simply survive, but flourish.
May young and old discover your life-giving love,
and delight in your gift of life,
so that fun, laughter and joy overflow to your glory.
Jesus, Lord of the Church, in your mercy, hear us.
Merciful Creator,
accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying: Our Father…
Offertory
Giving is at the heart of our faith: God so loved the world that Jesus was given for its sake. Jesus poured out himself in love to his friends and, on the Cross, for us. The Holy Spirit gives us any number of graces to help us be faithful disciples. We respond to God’s self-giving love through our own attempts to follow, through loving service of others and through the giving of our financial offerings. We now pray for the gifts of grace and wisdom.
Giving God,
You shower your blessings upon us,
giving us gifts to herald Your coming Kingdom;
give us the grace and wisdom we need to see Your light in the gloom,
to see through faith You at work in our midst.
Bring light and life to all.
Bless this money which we offer to you,
and help us to use it wisely that it too may be a sign of Your love. Amen.
Hymn God’s Spirit is in My Heart
Alan Dale, Hubert Richards © 1982, Kevin Mayhew sung by Matt Beckingham and used with his kind permission. OneLicence # A-734713
God’s Spirit is in my heart
He has called me and set me apart.
This is what I have to do,
what I have to do
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Just as the Father sent me
so I’m sending you out to be,
my witnesses throughout the world,
the whole of the world.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Don’t carry a load in your pack,
you don’t need two shirts on your back;
God’s workers can earn their own keep,
can earn their own keep.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Don’t worry what you have to say,
don’t worry because on that day
God’s Spirit will speak in your heart,
will speak in your heart.
He sent me to give the Good News to the poor,
tell prisoners that they are prisoners no more;
tell blind people that they can see,
and set the downtrodden free.
And go tell everyone the news that the Kingdom of God has come,
and go tell everyone the news that God’s Kingdom has come.
Blessing
May the One whose realm shines like the stars at night,
the One who brings good news to the poor and downtrodden,
the One who brings love, live and laughter,
enable you to shine with the joy of the Kingdom,
encourage you to proclaim good news,
and energise you with divine healing,
and the blessing of Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be with you all, now and always, Amen.
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URC Daily Devotion Sunday 17th November 2024
96
URC Daily Devotion Sunday 17th November 2024
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Sunday 17th November 2024
Psalm 57
Have mercy on me, God, have mercy
for in you my soul has taken refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I take refuge
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I call to you God the Most High,
to you who have always been my help.
May you send from heaven and save me
and shame those who assail me.
O God, send your truth and your love.
My soul lies down among lions,
who would devour us, one and all,
Their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongue a sharpened sword.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth!
They laid a snare for my steps
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path
but fell in it themselves.
My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready.
I will sing, I will sing your praise.
Awake, my soul;
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will praise you
for your love reaches to the heavens
and your truth to the skies.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth.
Reflection
The Psalmist again wrestles with all that can trouble us. There are the ‘storms of destruction’ which we can see today in both the storms of climate change and the wars and conflict that afflict Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, and other countries.
The Psalmist is also aware of those who ‘assail’ him. There are people who might be like lions, ready to devour him, and those who lay snares which bow down his soul. Perhaps these are like people we might have fallen out with, or those in our community who just want to put faith and the church to one side, so that these are forgotten.
We can each often have areas in our lives and in the life of the world which we lament, and which drag us down. Even the local church, a sign of hope, can bring challenges.
But the Psalmist is granted a bigger vision. God is the one who offers refuge in times of trouble and helps bring life in all its fullness. God is the one who opens up truth, for each one of us personally, for our communities and politicians, for our troubled world. This truth is not just in the setting of what might be right or wrong, but in the settling of God’s love, the love that is the value that overcomes all else, and sets the fullness of life in its broadest and deepest context. ‘Your love reaches to the heavens and your truth to the skies’.
The Psalmist’s response is to praise God, in song and in lyre and harp.
It is God’s love that causes us to sing and play musical instruments as we offer our praise to God, even in the most difficult of times. Having moments of being touched by music, whether in playing or listening, whether on our own or with others, draws us closer to God.
Prayer
Loving and life-giving God
Thank you for lifting us up when we fall and fail.
May we see your glory which shines through all darkness.
Help us to have the courage to testify to your love,
In what we say and in how we live,
In our own lives and in your troubled world.
May we speak your word of truth and sing your praise.
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch, retired minister, member of St Andrews URC Ealing Copyright The Psalms: The Grail Translation, Inclusive Language Version, Collins, 2009. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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Psalm 57
Have mercy on me, God, have mercy
for in you my soul has taken refuge.
In the shadow of your wings I take refuge
till the storms of destruction pass by.
I call to you God the Most High,
to you who have always been my help.
May you send from heaven and save me
and shame those who assail me.
O God, send your truth and your love.
My soul lies down among lions,
who would devour us, one and all,
Their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongue a sharpened sword.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth!
They laid a snare for my steps
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path
but fell in it themselves.
My heart is ready, O God,
my heart is ready.
I will sing, I will sing your praise.
Awake, my soul;
awake, lyre and harp,
I will awake the dawn.
I will thank you, Lord, among the peoples,
among the nations I will praise you
for your love reaches to the heavens
and your truth to the skies.
O God, arise above the heavens;
may your glory shine on earth.
Reflection
The Psalmist again wrestles with all that can trouble us. There are the ‘storms of destruction’ which we can see today in both the storms of climate change and the wars and conflict that afflict Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, and other countries.
The Psalmist is also aware of those who ‘assail’ him. There are people who might be like lions, ready to devour him, and those who lay snares which bow down his soul. Perhaps these are like people we might have fallen out with, or those in our community who just want to put faith and the church to one side, so that these are forgotten.
We can each often have areas in our lives and in the life of the world which we lament, and which drag us down. Even the local church, a sign of hope, can bring challenges.
But the Psalmist is granted a bigger vision. God is the one who offers refuge in times of trouble and helps bring life in all its fullness. God is the one who opens up truth, for each one of us personally, for our communities and politicians, for our troubled world. This truth is not just in the setting of what might be right or wrong, but in the settling of God’s love, the love that is the value that overcomes all else, and sets the fullness of life in its broadest and deepest context. ‘Your love reaches to the heavens and your truth to the skies’.
The Psalmist’s response is to praise God, in song and in lyre and harp.
It is God’s love that causes us to sing and play musical instruments as we offer our praise to God, even in the most difficult of times. Having moments of being touched by music, whether in playing or listening, whether on our own or with others, draws us closer to God.
Prayer
Loving and life-giving God
Thank you for lifting us up when we fall and fail.
May we see your glory which shines through all darkness.
Help us to have the courage to testify to your love,
In what we say and in how we live,
In our own lives and in your troubled world.
May we speak your word of truth and sing your praise.
--> Today's writer The Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch, retired minister, member of St Andrews URC Ealing Copyright The Psalms: The Grail Translation, Inclusive Language Version, Collins, 2009. Copyright © 2024 United Reformed Church, All rights reserved.
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