|
APC 8th July 2020 “Love keeps no record of wrongs” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Midweek Worship. Today we continue our series on the most essential characteristic of the Christian life – that of course, is Love. Jesus says it’s by the way we love others that will show the world that we really are God’s children. St Paul reminds us that if we fail to love we will leave no lasting impression on the lives of those around us. On Sunday we reflected on the reality that ‘love is not selfish’. Today we will discover that true love ‘keeps no record of wrongs’. But to begin, let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Almighty and all loving God, in awe and reverence we come to worship you – to proclaim your greatness, to acknowledge your power, to recognise your sovereignty, to declare your goodness. Lord of all, hear our prayer. Compassionate and caring God, with grateful hearts we come to praise you – for your love that constantly surrounds us, for all the blessings of our lives, for the wonder of our world, for the hope of our faith in Christ. Lord of all, hear our prayer. Merciful and forgiving God, in sorrow and shame we come before you – to confess our unworthiness and your goodness, to confess we have not loved you or one another as we should, to confess we have failed to appreciate your many gifts and often disregarded your guidelines for living. Lord of all, hear our prayer. Living and life-giving God, in faith and trust we come to petition you – to pray for ourselves, for one another and for our world; to bring the concerns of daily life before you; to lift our loved ones into your presence, to commit the affairs of the world into your hand. Lord of all, hear our prayer. Lord of all, we offer you this time of worship – our praise, our thanks, our confession, our petition. Lord of all, hear our prayer. Respond to us we pray- touch our hearts with your living presence and fill our lives with your grace, so that our love for you may grow, our faith be deepened, and our love and service to others be strengthened. Lord of all, hear our prayer. In the name of Christ, Amen… Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Readings 1 Corinthians 13 v 4-8 The Nature of God’s Love 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. Matthew 18 v 21-35 The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Reflection “Love keeps no record of wrongs” I want to begin this morning’s sermon by telling you two stories. The first is the reading of a will by a lawyer in the presence of all those mentioned within it… A lawyer was reading out the will of a rich man to the people mentioned in the will: "To you, my loving wife Rose, who stood by me in rough times, as well as good, I leave the house and $2 million." The lawyer continued, "To you my daughter Jessica, who looked after me in sickness and kept the business going, I leave the yacht, the business and $1 million." The lawyer concluded, "And, to my cousin Dan, who hated me, argued with me, and thought that I would never mention him in my will - well you are wrong……………….Hi Dan!" The second story is a letter written by one man to his neighbour after many years of a difficult relationship…. “Dear Frank. We've been neighbors for six tumultuous years. When you borrowed my power washer, you returned it in pieces. When I was sick, you blasted rap music. And when your dog went to the bathroom all over my lawn, you just laughed. I could go on, but I'm certainly not one to hold grudges. So I am writing this letter to tell you that your house is on fire. Cordially, Bob” It’s good to laugh at stories like these but behind the smile/humor is the sad reality that all of us are tempted to hold grudges. For all of us, unfortunately, because accidents happen, because people are not perfect, including ourselves, things will happen and we will be deeply hurt. At these times, we will be faced with a choice. We can choose to ask God to somehow help us to let go, to forgive, or we can choose to try and get our own back on the people who have hurt us. This might mean talking about them badly to as many people as will listen. It could involve ignoring them completely, or continually reminding them of what they did or didn’t do so that they feel guilty. All of which will keep the replay button of what happened permanently switched on in our hearts and minds. Our grudge may even be with God Himself- gradually eroding our desire to pray, read the scriptures or get involved in church. Hundreds of years ago, the Christian missionary Paul, wrote a letter to the members of a church situated in the cosmopolitan city of Corinth. Like any family, club, school, sports team or business, where people work at close quarters with each other, the members of this church had hurt one another. They had formed little cliques or factions based on who their favorite preacher was. Others thought that the spiritual gifts they possessed were more important than anyone else and they weren’t afraid to say so. Some wanted to be seen and heard and their ideas to be promoted no matter how others felt, and no matter what effect it had on their worship services. Many were extremely selfish, even to the point that they refused to share their family picnic with the poor members of the church who had nothing to contribute to the community lunches at which they celebrated Holy Communion. People were hurting, relationships were strained, the unity, public witness and future existence of the church were under threat. In this case, as in all cases, the hurts and grudges that existed in people’s hearts were no laughing matter. So, as any good pastor would, Paul writes to this group of people whom he deeply loves with the following advice – “Love keeps no record of wrongs.” The word Paul uses for “keeps no record” is the Greek word ‘logizeshthai’. It is an accounting word describing the process of entering an item into a ledger so that it will never be forgotten. Interestingly, Paul uses the same word to describe how God ‘imputes’ or puts a record of the righteousness of Christ down to our credit when we repent and believe. In the moment that we cry out to God for forgiveness and we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, God writes “Paid in full” into our debit book in heaven. So what Paul is saying is “If you call yourselves Christians, if you claim to understand that God in Christ has forgiven you for all the wrong things you have said and done even though you don’t deserve it, then you are to love others the way God loves you. That means you are to keep no record of wrongs. You are to forgive. You are to let go and not hold grudges. You are to leave your reputation and your vindication to God.” But why does Paul say this and what about serious cases where even if theologically and intellectually we can agree with Pauls’ advice, in practical and emotional terms, it’s extremely difficult, if not impossible to forgive? Well, as we’ve already mentioned, Paul says we are to ‘keep no record of wrongs’ because when we love like this we reflect the image of God for the world to see. When we seek to forgive as God has forgiven us, the amazing, unbelievable, transforming grace of God shines brightly in the darkness of our world. For the message of society is very often the opposite of the Jesus’ way. Society says, “Get even, stand up for your rights, make sure they get what they deserve and they ought to feel guilty and be continually reminded of what they have done wrong.” While the there may be an element of justice underlying some of these attitudes, the problem is that there is no mention of forgiveness, no concept of mercy and grace. Justice without mercy cannot bring true reconciliation or peace. When we act like the world and hold grudges, not only is the image of God hidden from people’s view, but ultimately the person who gets hurt the most is us, not the person who has wronged us! God loves us, he cares about our emotional and physical well-being. That’s also why He tells us to forgive. You see it’s the enemy of God who tries to convince us that if we can get our own back we will feel better. He persuades us that if we can think negative thoughts about the person who has hurt us, if we can ruin their reputation the way that they have ruined ours, and if we can make them feel guilty by reminding them of what they said or by just ignoring them altogether, our hurt and our pain will begin to ease. The problem is, as many people have discovered, exactly the opposite is true. When we keep reminding ourselves of wrongs. When we refuse to forgive, when we try to vindicate ourselves rather than leaving that to God, we start to become infected with bitterness and hatred. This can lead to making us deeply unhappy, angry, anxious, fearful and lead to physical effects such as insomnia, high blood pressure, aches and pains. God calls us to forgive, not so the person who has hurt us can escape justice, but so that we can experience the ‘shalom’, the deep emotional and physical peace that He desires for us. The truth is when we choose to hold on to our hurts we suffer, but when we choose to let go and to forgive we are set free. We must learn to leave justice and vindication to the courts and to God. Even when the hurts we have received have been unbelievably traumatic, even when the loss that we have suffered can never be replaced, nothing is impossible with God. There are countless stories of situations where it would seem impossible to forgive, where people have cried out to God and asked Him for the grace and the help to somehow let go and God has answered in miraculous ways. What God has done for many others, He can do for you and me. He does not expect us to forget, but He can and will give us the grace to forgive and open the door to us finding inner peace. The last thing I want to say about the importance of not keeping a record of wrongs concerns love for ourselves. One of the hardest things for many people is not forgiving other people- it is forgiving themselves for what they have done or for some major failure in their lives. Even though they may have been reconciled to others and confessed to God, they still can’t manage to escape the guilt they feel and the devil’s whisper in their ear – “You’re no good, you’ve let everybody down, what use are you to anyone going forward!” Jesus knew this is how Peter must have felt. When Jesus was arrested and sentenced to death Peter was not only shocked and confused, He was afraid for his own life. So when questioned about his involvement with this insurrectionist, he lied 3 times saying that he had never even met Jesus. When Jesus was crucified, Peter thought it was all over. He never even got a chance to say ‘sorry’. He went back to the only thing he knew- fishing. Jesus loved Peter. He wanted Peter to know not only that He was alive, but also that He had forgiven Him, that He valued Him and had work for him to do. So he advised Peter and his fishing crew from the beach where to cast their nets. When they caught so many fish, they realised it was the Master. Having hauled in the nets and rowed to shore they ran to meet him. He barbequed some of the fish they had caught for breakfast. Then as they were eating, he took the opportunity to restore Peter emotionally and to set him back on the path of ministry… Three times he asked him, “Peter do you love me?” Three times Peter replied, “Yes Lord you know that I love you.” On the third answer Jesus commissioned him again for his life’s work, “Then I want you to be a pastor. I want you to feed my lambs and my sheep.” Listen, maybe you’re listening today and you’re like Peter. Maybe you’ve made some ghastly mistake at some point in your life and you’ve never got over it. I want to say to you this morning, God loves you! He forgives you! You are valuable to Him and He has a purpose for you that will bring you great satisfaction and that will also be of benefit to many others. Do not listen to that negative voice in your mind anymore. Listen to Jesus and ask Him to touch you in a deeply spiritual way that will heal your emotions and give you the confidence to live again! You know, they say that those who never make mistakes, never make anything! Isaiah also says that “God will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten!” “Love keeps no record of wrongs!” and that includes forgiving yourself. I want to end my reflection this morning by playing you a song. The song is about Renee, who lost her daughter Megan in a car accident at the hands of a drunk driver, a 24-year-old named Eric who was by all accounts a great young man, but made a tragic mistake. Renee experienced years of hatred, and bitterness, until she eventually learned how to forgive the young man who took her beloved daughter's life. In a miraculous way, after Megan's death in 2001, Renee began giving presentations, and in time, God put it on her heart to forgive this man and reach out to him in prison. She learned that until she was set free of the anger and bitterness she held towards Eric, she was going to be the prisoner even though he was the one behind bars. As a result, Eric found his own personal faith in Christ and they developed a unique friendship to the point where she feels like she gained a son, and she even went to the courts to cut Eric's sentence in half. He made a terrible mistake taking the life of two young girls, and yet he's been forgiven. Renee told Eric that she serves a God who commands her to forgive and she needed to be set free as much for herself as for him. After Eric left prison in November 2012, he stood by Renee's side at her presentations to groups about forgiveness. Renee's story is life-defining as we all need to think about how forgiveness can set us free. The song is written by Matthew West and is called, “Forgiveness” Prayer Merciful Father, Thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Your only Son loved us enough to come to earth and experience the worst pain imaginable so we could be forgiven. Your mercy flows to us in spite of our faults and failures. Your Word says for us to “clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony”. Help us demonstrate unconditional love today, even to those who hurt us. Gracious Lord Jesus, thank You for the power of forgiveness. Today we choose to forgive everyone who has hurt us. Help us set them free and release them to You. Help us bless those who have hurt us. Help us walk in righteousness, peace, and joy, demonstrating Your life here on earth. We choose to be kind and compassionate, forgiving others, just as You forgave us. Comforting Spirit, today we ask forgiveness of all the negative and harmful words we have spoken about ourselves. We do not want to punish ourselves in such a way again. Transform our thoughts and let us understand how marvelously you have made us. Change our habits so we use our tongues to speak hope and favour upon our lives. In Jesus' name. God, what we pray for ourselves we also pray for all others. Please give all people who have been deeply hurt and are finding it hard to forgive, your grace and mercy and power to let go. Help them to find freedom from their bitterness, anger and hatred. We pray too for people who, for whatever reasons, find it very difficult to forgive themselves or who can’t understand how you could possibly forgive them because they don’t deserve it. Lord again we pray that these people will find release from these chains. May they know that you value them, that you forgive them and that you have a purpose for them in life and that they can make a great contribution to the lives of others. Lord help us to really understand the gospel about Jesus and help us to believe it. Take a few moments to bring your own prayers to God… Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. Don’t forget we are planning to reopen our church on Sunday 26th July. We will be sending all of you a letter by email before the end of this week to let you know our plans, to enable you to sign our Covid 19 policy, and to give you plenty of time to prepare for what will be a wonderful opportunity to meet together again for worship. If after reading the letter you have any further questions, then please do feel free to give me a call. I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s reflection on the nature of Christian love. Please do spend some time in quiet over the next few days asking the Lord to show you the areas of your life where you are struggling to forgive others or to forgive yourself. I hope you’ll join me again on Sunday as we reflect on another characteristic of true love. In the meantime, let me lead you in a benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together… Benediction Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. And May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.”
0 Comments
APC 5th July 2020 “Love is not selfish” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday Morning Worship. Today I want to continue with the second part of our new series that will take us through July and August online and in church once we reopen on 26th July. This series is about the most important thing in all of our lives and especially if we call ourselves Christian. What I’m referring to is ‘Love’. Over the next two months, we will be digging deeply into what real Christian love looks like using St. Paul’s description that we find in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Initially while we are still only online, we will consider some of the more difficult aspects of this subject. Later when we return to church, we will look at the more easily understood sides of love because our services will be shorter and geared to all ages. Today I want us to consider what Paul means when he says that ‘love is not selfish’ and to help us to understand some of the background to what was happening in the Corinthian church that prompted Paul to write these words. But first, let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Eternal and gracious God, we come before you in the name of Christ, setting aside time and space in our lives to reflect on your greatness, to rejoice in your goodness and to respond to you with gladness. We come in awe, in wonder, in reverence and humility. We come with praise with thanks, with joy and celebration. We come to share fellowship, to make our confession to you and to each other, to pray for ourselves, our world and our loved ones, to offer you our service. We come gladly, obediently, hungrily, confidently. We come seeking your presence, your guidance, your strength and your mercy. Loving God, we are here before you in the name of Christ. Receive our worship. Receive our faith. Receive ourselves. And help us to receive all you would give us and teach us in these moments through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Readings 1 Corinthians 13 The Importance of Love “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Philippians 2 v 1-11 Imitating Christ’s Humility “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature[a] God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature[b] of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Reflection “Love is not selfish” A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers “You’d better jump!”, and he himself bailed out. Unfortunately, there were only three parachutes remaining. The doctor grabbed one and said, “I’m a doctor, I save lives, so I must live,” and jumped out. The lawyer then said, “I’m a lawyer and lawyers are the smartest people in the world. I deserve to live.” He also grabbed a parachute and jumped. The priest looked at the little boy and said, “My son, I’ve lived a long and full life. You are young and have your whole life ahead of you. Take the last parachute and live in peace.” The little boy handed the parachute back to the priest and said, “Not to worry Father. The smartest man in the world just took off with my back pack.” We can all laugh at this story, and it’s good to laugh at ourselves. I would hope that if we ever found ourselves in such an unfortunate situation we would offer our parachute to the little boy. Like the priest, there are many examples throughout history of remarkable examples of self-sacrifice and selflessness. I’m sure all of us can recall times in our own lives when we have genuinely put the needs of other people before ourselves at home, in school, at work, in our neighbourhood and in church. But this story also highlights something that lies within the hearts of all humanity, including those who are well educated and deeply respected in society. I’m talking of course about selfishness. Selfishness can express itself in so many different ways. It can raise its ugly head at any time and in many different aspects of our lives. At home it can show itself in expecting someone else to always empty the dishwasher, walk the dog or wait for the TV remote. At work it can mean rushing to get our holiday dates in first, leaving others to do work which should be our responsibility, calling in sick just because we’ve been out late the night before, or always organising meetings at a time that is convenient for us. In our leisure time, it can involve rocking up weekly to a sports club without ever volunteering to help out, or block-booking a tennis court even though you know there will be weeks when you won’t be using it, and using whatever influence we have to make sure our child makes the team. In church it can involve enjoying all the activities on offer without ever rolling up our sleeves to help out or without contributing as generously as we ought. It can include not being willing to celebrate and interact with styles of music that are outside our own personal preferences, parking in a disabled spot or grabbing all the best sandwiches first. On a world scale we are selfish when we care little about the impact our personal lifestyle choices have on people in other parts of the world. Whether that involves the number of flights we make, constantly buying things that are new, the amount of plastics and water we consume, or the companies that we invest in. The reality is that as well as the good within us, there are areas in all of our lives which are deeply selfish and which we are often blind or oblivious to. While having God in our lives can certainly help us to be more considerate of others, we would be unwise to think that as Christians we are completely immune from acts of selfishness. Reflect In what ways, at home, at work, in church and in the world do you act in selfish ways? Unfortunately a spirit of selfishness was permeating the church in Corinth that St Paul founded and kept in touch with through correspondence. In his letter of 1 Corinthians we discover that sadly many of these Christians were acting in extremely selfish ways. In particular, they were using their God-given spiritual gifts for their own pleasure and to parade their own spirituality, rather than out of a desire to be an encouragement and blessing to the other people in the church. Paul mentions how some people in the church who had gifts of prophecy or the gift of speaking in other world or even angelic languages were exercising their gifts in the middle of church services without any thought for how it was impacting on the congregation or on people who were visiting. It seems that some of these people were getting up in the middle of the church service and speaking in unknown languages without allowing time for someone else to use the gift of interpretation to explain what had just been said. Others were getting up and prophesying, bringing a message from God without running it past the leaders or even while another prophet was already speaking. This, as you can imagine, was causing chaos, confusion and great disruption within their worship services. It was creating tension, anxiety and division within the church. These people were being deeply selfish and their actions and attitudes were having an extremely negative effect on the whole congregation. The saddest thing is they seemed to be oblivious to this reality. Hearing what has been going on, Paul writes to them and says – “However spiritual you think you are being, whatever great gifts God has given you, and as important as the exercise of those gifts are, you have forgotten the main thing. The most important thing for any church and any Christian is love. Loving God and loving each other. That means considering others and their needs and feelings even more than yourself.” The word Paul uses here to describe Christian love is the word “Agape”. It is actually a word that the writers of the New Testament had to invent to describe the love that Jesus displayed. The word ‘radar’ was similarly coined to name a new reality that previously did not exist. Even though Jesus was God, the Creator of the universe, He left the splendour of His heavenly home, He took upon Himself our full humanity and He entered our world so that He might be with us and teach us and show us what God is like. Ultimately He died on a Roman cross to take the judgement that we deserve for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. This complete disregard for oneself, this sacrificial love for another person even though they don’t deserve it, is how God has loved us. This is “agape”. This is God’s love and this is how God calls us to behave towards one another. Above all other things, this is God’s vision for our church family her in Arklow. We are to ‘agape’ God and we are to ‘agape’ one another. Over the next number of weeks, we will discover that like a cut diamond or crystal, this agape love has many different sides. Today Paul reminds us that at its very heart, Christian love is not selfish. In case you think I’m overemphasising the importance of not being selfish or the seriousness of the consequences of not loving each other, let me tell you what Paul says to this church who were not loving and who were being selfish and inconsiderate in their interactions with each other. He says, “No matter what else you do if you don’t love you are just like a clanging cymbal”. What does he mean? Corinth was famous for its bronze which is an alloy of copper and tin and which, like Coca Cola, was manufactured to a secret formula. It was locally produced and used in the pagan cults and processions. During worship services in pagan temples and during pagan processions in the streets, these large bronze cymbals would be struck making a dull, tuneless metallic sound. For the uninitiated, this sound would have been as annoying as a continually barking dog. What Paul says to us this morning is highly significant. He says, “It doesn’t matter what amazing programs we run, it doesn’t matter how good our church facilities are, it doesn’t matter how wonderful our music is or how slick our online communications are. If we don’t love one another sincerely and deeply from our hearts and in our words and actions, we will simply put people off Christianity and Christ!” You know, there is no greater sin! In fact, Jesus says elsewhere that if we cause anyone who believes in Him to stumble in their faith, it would be better for us to have a millstone cast around our neck and for us to be thrown into the depths of the ocean! Paul goes on to say, it doesn’t matter what gifts we have, how wise and intelligent we are and even the magnitude of our faith. If we don’t exercise these things unselfishly and lovingly we are nothing! All of us like to feel that we will leave a legacy, at work, in our family and as a church placed in this community. St. Paul reminds us that if we do not deeply love God and each other, we leave nothing of any lasting value behind us. Paul says that even if we should give everything we own to the poor or even end up sacrificing our lives for Christ, if our motivation and actions are not characterised by unselfishness and love we will gain nothing. The scary thing for me is that the history of the Corinthian church suggests that it is not enough just to hear these messages about love and to understand them intellectually. After Paul’s initial letter it seems that Timothy brought a report to Paul in Ephesus that things were still not good in Corinth. So Paul made an impromptu visit to them. After he left it seems that he wrote a second letter which we do not have, probably warning the Corinthians that if they didn’t change he would not be back. The fact that Paul visited them a third time as evidenced in the letter of second Corinthians suggests that there was some change in the lives of the Corinthians. Sadly however, history suggests that this change was only shallow. 50 years later, Clement in Rome writes to the Corinthians telling them to renew their love for each other. Long term the church in Corinth never amounted to much and had no significant impact for good on its community. It seems that their lack of love for each other was a continued obstacle to the work of God among them and their community. Look, what happened to the Corinthians can happen to us. It will not be enough for us to hear and understand these talks on the importance and the nature of love each week. We must get on our knees and ask God by His spirit to show us the areas of our lives where we are not acting in love. And when he shows us, we must cry out to Him for forgiveness and plead with Him to give us the courage and the power to change. It is only as we begin to love God and to love each other again the way that we should with unselfish, ‘agape’ love that we will achieve anything significant for the Kingdom of God now and in the future. It is my prayer that each of us will take this seriously and may God have mercy on us all…. Prayer Loving God, you have called us to be your servants – to offer our service to Christ, to one another, to your church, to your world. Forgive us that we have so often failed you. Forgive us that so often we are concerned to serve only ourselves – our own interests, our own needs, our own desires, our own ends. Forgive us that we have so often failed you. Forgive us that we are sometimes more concerned with what we can get out of faith than with what we can put into it; more concerned with what you can do for us, than what we can do for you; more concerned with what we can receive from others, than what we can give to them. Forgive us that we have so often failed you. Teach us to serve, seeking no reward, to live without expecting love in return, to give without counting the cost, to follow without holding back, to live each day as your people, offering ourselves in glad and joyful praise. Father we pray for those congregations who resume meeting for worship today with social distancing and other limitations to navigate. We ask that they will know your presence as they gather together again. We remember congregations like ourselves who continue to worship digitally. Lord we ask that we too will continue to know you working in and through our online services while they remain physically apart. We pray for everyone who has found lockdown exhausting because they have had to pick up extra responsibilities in their family or working life. Lord, please renew their strength. We think of those who have found lockdown frustrating as they have been unable to work, have been unwell, or who have experienced the angst of waiting. Lord we pray that you will bring renewed motivation and re-energise their lives. We pray for continued progress in stemming the spread of coronavirus through observation of necessary restrictions which remain. Lord, in your mercy spare us from local outbreaks or a second spike. We thank you for all our government and health care leaders who have guided us up to this point. We give special thanks to you for the sacrificial work of Dr Tony Holohan. Please draw near to his whole family, particularly his wife in these days of very serious illness. May they experience your comfort, your strength and your love surrounding them and giving them courage at this time. We pray for continued research into finding drugs to treat coronavirus and a for a vaccine. Father, please continue to use the gifts and skills You have given to scientific researchers to bring your healing and health to the world. Take a few moments to bring your own prayers top God… Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. Don’t forget we are planning to reopen our church on Sunday 26th July. Over the next week or so we will be sending all of you a letter by email to let you know our plans, to enable you to sign our Covid 19 policy and to give you plenty of time to prepare for what will be a wonderful opportunity to meet together again for worship. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first reflection on what it really means to love. Please do spend some time in quiet over the next few days asking the Lord to show you the areas of your life where you struggle with selfishness. I hope you’ll join me again on Wednesday as we reflect on another characteristic of true love. In the meantime, let me lead you in a benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together… Benediction Go into the world in peace. Be full of courage and hold on to what is good. Don’t pay back evil for evil. Strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak. Help the afflicted, honour everyone, love and serve the Lord rejoicing in the power of His Spirit. And May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” APC 1st July 2020 “The Power of Love” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Midweek Worship. Today I want to introduce our new series that will take us through July and August online and in church once we reopen. It is perhaps the most important series that I will ever speak about. I say that, only because the apostle Paul himself says that this is the most important thing in the Christian life. In fact, he says, if we don’t have this thing everything else we do will be worthless. If you haven’t guessed it already – I’m talking about ‘love’. Over the next two months we will be digging deep into what real Christian love really looks like using St. Paul’s description that we find in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. But today I simply want to whet your appetite for this wonderful topic by sharing a few thoughts about the ‘Power of love’. But first, let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Almighty God we thank you for your great gift of love – the love that we are able to share with those around us, which gives us a sense of self-worth and belonging which enriches our lives in so many ways. You have opened your heart to us, help us to do the same to you. We thank you for your love which defies all expression, constant, total, inexhaustible, flowing out to us like a never-ending stream. You have opened your heart to us, help us to do the same to you. Almighty God, we thank you for loving us before we ever loved you and for continuing to love us even when we fail to love you in return. You have opened your heart to us, help us to do the same to you. Deepen our love for you and for one another. Help us to be faithful and true in all our relationships, and most especially in our relationship with you. You have opened your heart to us, help us to do the same to you. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Reading s Matthew 3 v 13-17 The Baptism of Jesus 13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 1 Corinthians 13 The Importance of Love “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Reflection ‘The Power of Love’ A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the students wrote, “He hasn’t got a chance.” Twenty- five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. She had her students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and she was able to ask each one, “How do you account for your success?” In each case the reply came with feeling, “There was this teacher…” The teacher was still alive, so the professor sought her ought and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher’s eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. “It’s really very simple,” she said. “I loved those boys.” 1 Love - The Power to keep us going Most of us will never experience the difficulties of growing up in a seriously deprived environment, but all of us will experience challenging circumstances at some stage in our lives. We’ve all said to ourselves on occasion, “I can’t do this, it’s all too much, this is hopeless, how am I going to manage? So what is it that will enable us to overcome the difficulties that life throws at us? What will enable us to continue to persevere and remain positive despite the continued difficulties posed by the threat of the Corona virus? I believe it is the same thing that enabled Jesus to overcome His temptations in the wilderness. The knowledge that no matter what, His Father loved Him. It was specifically at His baptism that Jesus received this assurance. Mark tells us that as Jesus went into the Jordan to be baptised by John, the heavens opened up and a voice spoke from heaven saying, “This is my beloved Son, I am pleased with Him.” Immediately the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to face forty days of testing and temptation from the evil one. As well as the company of the angels, I would suggest that it was the security of knowing that He was truly loved by God the Father, that enabled Jesus in His humanity to go through His wilderness ordeal. And it’s the same for us. When we were baptised and received into the community of God’s people, God our heavenly father said to us, “You are my dear child, I’m delighted with you.” But it’s not only at our baptism, but every day of our lives, God says to us, “You are my dear child, I love you.” Even if we’ve wandered far from God He still loves us and stands with open arms waiting for us to come home. It’s only when we really start to believe deep within our hearts that God loves us, no matter what, that we’ll have the confidence to face the problems that life throws at us. It’s only when we really start to trust that God loves us that we’ll find the security to live for Him no matter what other people think. And of course if we ever doubt God’s love we only have to look at the cross to know that the Father did not spare His own Son so that we might be made God’s friends. Are you in the middle of a wilderness experience? Lonely, desolate, disorientated. Are your circumstances unfamiliar causing you fear or threatening to harm you? Do you feel at a low ebb physically and emotionally, in pain or vulnerable to temptation? Do you ever think “How on earth can I stay the course in this Sahara of life?” One biblical scholar answers that question like this, “If we imagine that our God is a bully, an angry threatening parent ready to yell at us, slam the door on us, or kick us out into the street because we haven’t quite made the grade, we will fail at the first whisper of temptation. But if we remember the voice that spoke those powerful words of love, we will find the way through.” Hear again the words spoken to Jesus at His baptism, “You are my wonderful son, you make me very glad.” Now listen as God speaks them to you whatever your wilderness, “You are my wonderful child, I delight in you.” May the knowledge that God loves you deeply and has done since the day you were born, give you the assurance, courage and strength to carry on. 2 Love - The Power to make a difference: Not only are the Father’s words to Jesus at His baptism an encouragement to us, but they are also an example to be followed. If we realise that words of encouragement help us feel secure and to cope in the desserts of life, then we need to be encouragers of other people. We must never underestimate the power of love to rejuvenate a wilted spirit. Each of us through Christ has the power to love and by doing so we can make a real difference in the lives of others. The apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth fighting and divided over who possessed the greatest and most useful spiritual gifts says, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” In other words Paul says, “Loving God and loving each other is the most important thing. In fact it doesn’t matter what else you do or say, if you don’t really love people your life and witness will make no difference.” As I’ve meditated on the power of knowing God’s love to sustain in the midst of difficulty and sharing that love with others, I’ve asked myself, “Do I regularly tell Emma something that I appreciate about her?” Do I tell my children, “I love you” every day? Do the people in Arklow know that I care about them, that it thrills me to see them in church and that I appreciate all of their efforts? Does the way I treat people really show that I love them? Lee Shapiro is a retired judge. At one point in his career, he realised that love is the greatest power there is. As a result, Lee became a hugger. He began offering everybody a hug. His colleagues dubbed him ‘the hugging judge’. The bumper sticker on his car reads, “Don’t bug me! Hug me!” About six years ago Lee created what he calls his hugger kit. On the outside it reads, “A heart for hugs.” The inside contains thirty little red embroidered hearts with sticky backs. Lee will take out his hugger kit, go round to people and offer them a little red heart in exchange for a hug. One- day Lee’s friend Nancy showed up at his doorstep. Nancy is a professional clown and she was wearing her costume, make up and all. “Lee grab a bunch of your hugger kits and let’s go out to the home for the disabled.” When they arrived at the home they started giving out balloon hats, hearts and hugs to the residents. Lee was uncomfortable. He had never before hugged people who were terminally ill, severely retarded or quadriplegic. But after a while he found it easier as he and Nancy acquired an entourage of doctors, nurses and orderlies who followed them round the wards. After several hours they entered the last ward. These were 34 of the worst cases that Lee had seen in his life. The feeling was so grim it took his heart away. But out of their commitment to share their love and to make a difference, Nancy and Lee started working their way round the room followed by the medical staff. Finally Lee came to the last person, Leonard. Leonard was wearing a big white bib that he was drooling on. Lee looked at Leonard and said, “Let’s go Nancy, there’s no way we can get through to this person.” “Ah C’mon Lee,” Nancy replied. “He’s a fellow human being too isn’t he?” Then she placed a funny balloon hat on his head. Lee took one of his little red hearts and stuck it on Leonard’s bib. He took a deep breath, leaned down and gave Leonard a hug. All of a sudden Leonard began to squeal, “Eeeeh! Eeeeh!” Some of the other residents in the room began to clang things together. Lee turned to the staff for some sort of explanation only to find that every doctor, nurse and orderly was crying. Lee asked the head nurse, “What’s going on?” He will never forget what she said. “This is the first time in 23 years, we’ve seen Leonard smile.” Conclusion: When Jesus was baptised, His Heavenly Father said to him, “Son, you delight me!” It was this assurance of His Father’s love that enabled Jesus humanly to face His temptations in the wilderness. When you and I were born God said to us, “My wonderful child, you delight me!” When life becomes a wilderness remember that you are precious to your heavenly father, He will carry you through. If love is so powerful, then we need to love one another. I’m not suggesting we automatically become a hugger, but through our actions, our words and our attitudes we can love those we rub shoulders with. Mother Teresa said, “Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbour…Let no-one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting..” Go out and love this week. You’ll be amazed at the difference it will make in the lives of others. Prayer God of love we pray for those many people in our world who have been deprived of love, who feel unloved, or for whom love has been painful. Touch their hearts with the love of Christ. We pray for those for whom love has involved pain- those who have faced the trauma of breakdown in their marriage, or experienced the collapse of friendships or romantic engagements; those who have come from broken homes, or who have become estranged from family and friends; those whose children have moved away to begin new lives of their own, or whose parents have become frail, confused and infirm, those whose loved ones have been taken from them by death, or those who have been forced to leave those they count most dear. May the knowledge of your unending love be a constant source of comfort and inspiration Touch their hearts with the love of Christ. We pray for those who find it hard to love – those whose love has been betrayed, those who are scarred by bitter and painful experiences, those who have been subjected to abuse, those afraid of showing their true feelings, those oppressed by mental illness. Touch their hearts with the love of Christ. Loving God we bring before you the complex world of human relationships capable of bringing such joy but also such sorrow, so much pleasure yet so much pain. We thank you for your gift of love and all the love that surrounds us, but help us never to forget those who have lost love or been hurt through it. Restore their faith in what love can do, and help them both to find love and share it. Touch their hearts with the love of Christ. Grant to us all the knowledge that your love will never fail and never let us go. Thanks be to God, in Jesus’ name, Amen Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. As I said last Wednesday, we had hoped to reopen our church on the 5th of July but currently since only 50 people would be allowed to attend we have decided to wait until July 26th when 100 people will be allowed to attend. That way, we won’t have to turn anyone away, even if only 51 want to come. We will be sending all of you a letter by email shortly to let you know our plans, to enable you to sign our Covid 19 policy and to give you plenty of time to prepare for what will be a wonderful opportunity to meet together again for worship. I also want to say a big thank you for all your support and prayers for my mum who has been moved into hospice care in Belfast which means we are now able to see her. Please do remember my dad Ivan and my sister Karen and the whole family circle at this time. I hope you’ve enjoyed this taster and that you’ll continue to join me again on Sunday as we look deeper at what it really means to love as Christian people. To close today, let me lead you in a benediction after which I invite you as is our tradition, to say the grace together… Benediction May the beauty of God be reflected in your eyes, the love of God be reflected in your hands, the wisdom of God be reflected in your words, and the knowledge of God flow from your heart, that all might see, and seeing, believe And May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” APC 21st June 2020 “Father’s Day – Giving Honour to whom it’s due” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning Service. Today is Father’s Day. This morning we will be thanking God for good fathers and reflecting on what it means to honour our fathers and our mothers. But before we do that, let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Loving God, we come on this father’s day reminded that you are the father of us all. You have been with us from birth, guiding, nurturing and sustaining us. You have taught us and brought us to maturity, always concerned for our welfare, constantly seeking the best for us. Father God, we praise you. Whenever we have needed you have been there, willing to listen and advise, yet giving us freedom to make our own choices and find our own way. You have called us to be your family, a people united through your son, Jesus Christ. And through Him you have revealed your love, a love that reaches out to us day by day despite our failure to love you in return. Father God, we praise you. Teach us to live as your children – to hear your voice, obey your instruction and respond to your goodness. Teach us to bear your name with pride, to share with others, through word and deed the joy you have given us. And finally receive our thanks for the fathers you have given us, all they have meat to us, all they have given and all they have done in so many ways. Father God, we praise you. In the name of Christ, Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Readings Exodus 20 v 12 “Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Proverbs 6 v 20-22 20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. 21 Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. 22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. Reflection “Giving honour to whom honour is due.” Today is a very special Sunday, it is Father’s Day. A day when we give thanks to God for our dads and do something special to let them know we appreciate all they do for us. But as we do that it’s important to acknowledge that this is a day which many people find difficult. Quiet tears will be shed by many today. Tears for fathers who have died. Tears of those who never knew their dads, tears of dads for children who have died, tears of parents who have been rejected by their children, tears of children who were treated badly by their parents. All in all, Father’s Day is always a day of mixed emotions. Despite this, today is a unique Sunday in the church year when we celebrate and thank God for our fathers, and when we can take time to reflect on the broader responsibility that God gives us to honour our father and our mother. That’s what I want us to do for a few minutes this morning. Our text for the day will be the God’s words to Moses that we find in the fifth commandment – “Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Let me begin by asking an important question…. 1 Why should we honour our parents? i) They deserve our gratitude: From the physical side of things we owe our lives to our parents for they are the ones who brought us into the world. They are the ones who fed us, clothed us and gave us a home for all the years we were growing up. From an emotional point of view our parents are the ones who have loved us, believed in us, encouraged and supported us until we’ve reached the stage when we’ve been ready to flee the nest and fly solo. For many of us our parents have sacrificed in order to give us a good start in life like helping us to insure our first car or to get on the property ladder. The famous Scottish poet William Soutar said, “If I have done anything in life, it is because I was able to stand on the shoulders of my father.” ii) It is common sense: Our parents have walked the journey of life before us and therefore they know the dangers and the pitfalls in the way. The person who is unwilling to listen to the voice of experience will almost certainly end up in trouble. This was true of the great general Napoleon. His plan was to invade Russia. He gathered those with experience of the territory around him and asked them “What do you think? They answered, “We would advise you not to invade this winter because we believe the weather is going to be particularly severe.” “But how can you be sure?” Napoleon asked. “Because the birds have begun to migrate so early general.” they replied. Napoleon refused to listen to their warning. He continued with the campaign only to be met by a deadly winter of snow, ice and blizzards. His Grand Army was almost entirely wiped out. For Napoleon, this one decision marked the beginning of the end. It is sensible to listen to what our parents tell us because they have an experience of life that we do not yet possess. Now let me ask a second question… 2 How do we honour our parents? i) Treat them with importance, seriousness and dignity: The Hebrew word translated ‘honour’ in this passage is found elsewhere in the bible. In these other places it is used to refer to something that is important, substantial, serious, dignified or possessing status. In biblical terms, therefore honouring of our parents is determined primarily by adopting the right attitude towards them. If we have the right attitude to our parents then right actions will naturally follow. Biblically these words direct us to considering our parents as people of great worth and dignity. Just because they are older doesn’t make them or their views irrelevant. Quite the opposite in fact. They are worth listening to. They are worth spending time talking to. They are worth looking after- not because we will necessarily receive something in return but simply because of their inherent worth as the ones who made us, the ones who cared for us, ones in whom, however faintly in their best moments we glimpse the image of God. Even when the years have taken their toll and they barely recognise us or make no sense our parents are worthy of our respect, our care and our time. John, never came to church but I always made a point of visiting him regularly in Belfast. Despite his lack of attendance I always came away humbled from his home and wondering if he wasn’t a lot closer to the kingdom of God than me. Because you see John exemplified obedience to this commandment to a degree that I have never seen. Five years previously he had given up a good job to stay at home and care for his mother who at that time was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He did everything for her, almost every day for all those years, with hardly any respite simply because she was his mother and he loved her. Now I’m not suggesting that this is the only way we can honour an ageing parent. A time may come when we are unable to care for them unaided or when a Nursing Home is the best option for their happiness. I simply use it as an example of the attitude that we should have towards our parents whatever stage of life they are at. For when we have the right attitude, our actions will also be right. If we really appreciate the inherent worth and dignity of our parents, we’ll not treat them as a dumping ground for the kids, we’ll not push them out of church because they are no longer contemporary, we’ll not dismiss their advice because it’s irrelevant in a modern world. Rather, we’ll make time to include them in our lives, time to make that call, time to listen to the ramblings of the past. We’ll make the effort to send a card, give a gift, drop in during lunch and even muster the courage to say, “I love you.” What’s more, we’ll find ourselves avoiding a way of life that would bring them shame or break their hearts and adopting attitudes and actions that we know would make them proud. A friend of Robert Louis Stevenson found him turning over a scrap-book of press cuttings which contained all the praises that had been given to him and his books. “Well, Louis” he said. “Is fame all it’s cracked up to be?” “Yes” he replied, “When I see my mother’s face.” But a 3rd question I think it’s important to ask is- 3 What if our parents have made it hard to honour them? None of what I’ve said before is easy. None of us can honour our parents the way God wants without the internal help and power of the Holy Spirit. But for some of us the situation is even more difficult because we’ve never really known our real parents or because our parents haven’t treated us the way a parent should. How can I help you apply this scripture to your own lives? To be honest I’m not sure, so I pray your forgiveness if these thoughts are too hard or too removed from the pain of reality. But let me say this: If we’ve never known our real parents perhaps we can still recall people who cared for us as parents. Would it be possible to give to them the honour that is their due? Perhaps we have discovered our real parents but have never tried to make contact. Could God be asking us to honour Him and them by having the courage to make the first move? Even if our parents have been far from perfect or the cause of much of our pain, could God by His grace enable us somehow to forgive? Could God by His mercy enable us to still honour our parents by not talking badly about them or by trying somehow to show them kindness? By ourselves this is not possible, but however God leads us in our individual circumstances, I believe with Him, all things are possible. The last question I want us to consider is- 4 When is right to disobey our parents? In life there can be a higher duty even than honouring our parents. Jesus said, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.” For most of us this will never happen, but on rare occasions, our loyalty to Jesus can clash with our loyalty to our parents. For example, suppose a young man or woman feels that God is calling them to be a minister or to go to a far away country to spread the good news about Jesus. Suppose the parents, in all sincerity thinking of the interests of their children say, “But that job won’t pay you very well, you’ll have no security, or what about the health risks and dangers?” “Would you not consider something else?” When this happens, the young man or woman has to be true to their calling to Jesus. When this happens, it can be a painful clash. But our last loyalty must always be to Jesus. Let me finish by saying as Christian parents may we encourage our children to follow Christ and if in the future they should choose to give their lives to him in a sacrificial way, difficult as it will be to let them go, may we give them our blessing and our constant support. For believe me, the costs will be great enough without adding to their burden. The final part of this verse says that if we honour our parents God will reward us with long life. While experience tells me this can’t be a promise, the principle certainly holds true that if we listen to and follow the wise advice of our parents we are more likely to enjoy our lives and to avoid the things that might shorten our existence. It is my prayer that God may help us all to understand how we might better honour both our parents, not just today, but every day. Amen. Prayer Gracious God, you know the joy of fatherhood and also the pain, for you witnessed the life and death of your son. And you see each day the triumphs and tragedies of us your children. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. In Jesus you experienced the delight of being a father – as you watched him grow and mature into adulthood, as you saw him baptised in the Jordan, as day by day he responded to your guidance, faithful to the very last – a beloved son with whom you were well pleased. Yet you also experienced agony – in the horror of the cross, the pain, the humiliation and the sorrow he endured for our sakes. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. In each of us you find pleasure – when we pursue what is good, when we honour your commandments, when we seek your will and respond to your guidance. But we cause you also so much pain – through our weakness, our repeated disobedience, our deafness to your call and our rejection of your love. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. Gracious God, you know the joy and the pain of fatherhood, and so we now pray for fathers everywhere. Help them to appreciate both the privilege and the responsibility they bear, and teach them to give freely of themselves so that they may discover the happiness, the fulfilment and the inexpressible rewards that fatherhood brings. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. Give them wisdom, patience and dedication and grant them strength to persevere when children bring tears as well as laughter, anxiety as well as hope, pain as well as pleasure. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. Reach out we pray to all fathers in such circumstances – those who question their ability to cope, or who fear they have failed; those striving to offer support, or who feel they have nothing left to give. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. And finally hear our prayer for children who on this father’s day feel pain instead of joy – those whose fathers have died, those orphaned as children, those who have been mistreated, rejected, abused, and those from broken homes who barely see or know their fathers. Lord God our Father, reach out in love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. I hope if you are a dad you are able to have a very happy father’s day. I trust that all of us have been reminded of how best to show due respect our parents. Thank you for all your prayers for our church leadership as we have been planning for reopening our Sunday services in a safe and socially distanced way. We have really known the Lord’s help in our meetings. We will be sending all of you a letter by email shortly to let you know our plans, to enable you to sign our Covid policy and to give you plenty of time to prepare for what will be a wonderful opportunity to meet together again for worship. I hope you can tune in again on Wednesday morning as we look at Psalm 32 together and discover the amazing freedom God’s forgiveness can bring us. I also want to say a big thank you for all your support and prayers for my mum who has been moved into hospice care in Belfast which means we are now able to see her. Next Sunday our new Moderator Rev David Bruce will be leading a service organised by members of our Dublin and Munster Presbytery. One of the aims of this service is to encourage all our Presbytery members to tune in together and to remind ourselves that we are part of a family that is so much bigger. It also gives all our ministers a Sunday off! So please do tune in to that at our normal time of 10.00 am by clicking on the link on our Facebook Page or on our church Website. To close today, I’m delighted that members of our church choir our going to sing us a beautiful benediction…So may the Lord bless you and keep you… Benediction May God's blessing surround you each day As you trust Him and walk in His way. May his presence within guard and keep you from sin Go in peace, go in joy, go in love. Call: Because you are sons and daughters of God, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba Father.” Invocation: Almighty God, we rejoice in the privilege of being able to call you our Father. We bless you that you are a perfect parent one who knows everything, one who is always there for us, one who loves us completely, one who guides us with all wisdom and always for our good, one who disciplines us when necessary but who forgives us immediately we say sorry and buries our failures in the sea of your forgetfulness. Give us the help of your Spirit in our service this morning so that our singing, our prayers, our attention to your word and our willingness to obey will give you great pride and joy. This we ask in Jesus name, Amen. Confession and thanks: Father, we thank you for our parents and for all the people who have cared for us and guided us wisely as e have grown up. We thank you especially for your perfect fatherhood and for the brotherhood we share in your Son the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that He gave His life that we might be reconciled to you. We thank you that He reigns in heaven, our Great High Priest and that he prays for us every day. We thank you that you have given us your Spirit to guide us, strengthen and comfort us. Forgive us when we have taken our parents for granted and when we have not honoured those who have cared for us the way they deserve. Forgive us when we have not been the parents you would want us to be. Forgive us when we have rejected your parenthood. When we neglect to talk to you or to seek your advice through reading your word. Forgive us when we refuse to obey you and when we spurn your discipline. Yet we thank you Father, that you are gracious and merciful, that you never stop loving us and that you always stand with open arms waiting for us to return to you. So cleanse us afresh from our sin and renew daily our relationship with you, with each other, with our parents and with our children. So may every part of our lives reflect the glory of your Divine Parenthood, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. Intercession: Heavenly Father, from whom all parenthood comes, teach us to be better parents despite our many failures. Help us to understand our own children and all the children that you place in our care so that they may grow in your wisdom and love according to your will. Fill us with sensitive respect for the great gift of human life which you have committed to our care, help us to listen with patience to their worries and problems and give us tolerance to allow them to develop as individuals, as your Son did under the loving guidance of Mary and Joseph. We pray for young people growing up in a difficult and dangerous world. We pray for those who are unemployed or struggling to find employment. We pray for those taking their first steps in their skill, trade or profession. We pray for those who feel they have little support from the adults around them. We pray for those who are caught up in violence, either giving or receiving it. We pray for all whose lives are being harmed by an abuse of alcohol or drugs. We pray for those who are morally confused and uncertain about what is right or wrong. We pray for young Christians as they strive to live out their faith in an unsympathetic world. We pray for those who are homeless, or orphans and whose lives are overshadowed by disease and cruelty. We pray for all children who have been abused, bullied or cruelly treated Lord, give us wisdom to know what you want us to do to make life better for all children, youths and young adults in our families, in this church, in our town and nation and throughout the world. Bless every individual and organisation that genuinely seeks to care for them and grant that through our combined efforts each will grow up to find Jesus as their Saviour and to enjoy life as you intended. These prayers we offer in the name of your only begotten Son who teaches us to pray saying: Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Offering: Heavenly Father, we thank you that as a perfect parent you always provide for our daily needs. Help us to say thank you by obeying you in every detail of our lives and so bring great honour to your name and great pride and joy to your heart. In Jesus name we ask it, Amen. APC 17th June 2020 “The Gifts of the Holy Spirit” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Midweek reflections and prayers. Today we continue on with our series on the Holy Spirit. This morning we will be thinking about the varied gifts the Holy Spirit gives us and how we might best use these for the healthy growth of the church, Christ’s Body. But before we do that, let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Lord of life, we thank you for the gifts you have given us- the things we can do well and enjoy doing, the things that bring happiness to us, and contribute to the happiness of those around us. Lord of life, teach us to use the gifts you have given us. To play our part in the life of our church community and our society. We thank you for the gifts of others – those things they can do which we can’t, the talents they have which we haven’t, the skills they can offer which complement our own, and the qualities they display which in so many ways enrich our lives. Lord teach us to appreciate the gifts of those around us, to appreciate the contribution they make to our lives. Lord of life, teach us to recognise those things we can do well and those things others can do better. Teach us that we belong together, that all have something to give and something to receive. Teach us to see the worth of every human being. And to understand you have a special place for each f us in the body of Christ, for it is in His name we pray. Let us pray the Lord’s prayer together… Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Reading 2 Corinthians 12: 12-30 Unity and Diversity in the Body 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28 And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Reflection “Using God’s Gifts to Work Together” One of the worst experiences in life is the feeling that we aren’t wanted or we’re not needed. I can still remember the reason I gave up playing rugby. After travelling long distances on 3 occasions and sitting on the bench for the whole of those games, I decided it was time to hang up my boots. Perhaps I over reacted. Maybe I should have used that experience as a springboard to train harder. In hindsight, with my build and natural abilities I may have been wiser choosing hockey. In my more gracious moments, I even think it may have been my coach’s way of saving me from injury! But I’ll never forget the feelings of frustration, disappointment and uselessness that I experienced. I’m sure you’ve also had those experiences at some point in your life. That’s how some of the Christians in the church in Corinth felt. Whether it was due to false teaching or because of a power struggle between personalities, they had begun to argue over which of them was the more spiritual and which of them possessed the most important spiritual gifts. Many of them had developed the completely wrong idea that if you could speak in tongues you had really arrived! As a result, some of the people in the church were made to feel inferior and were beginning to feel useless and unwanted. Others were flexing their muscles and parading their gifts in an attempt to prove that actually what they did was more important than someone else. The end result was an internal conflict that not only threatened to destroy their relationships but also the effectiveness of their witness to the community in which they lived. Thankfully someone had the good sense to write to their spiritual Father, the apostle Paul, explaining to him what was going on and asking him for advice. In his response, Paul reminds them of 4 important lessons- lessons that it’s also good for us to ponder and with God’s help to put into practice. The first lesson is simply this-
Just stop and let that sink in for a moment. Paul says, “We are the body of Christ!” What that means is that because the Lord Jesus is not in this world in the body anymore, if he wants something done he needs to find a man or a woman who will do it. Now of course Jesus is with us by His Holy Spirit. God can still do anything and in that sense He doesn’t need us! But He also chooses to use us. He chooses to allow us to be the vessels in which His Spirit lives to guide us, teach us and comfort us. He also gives us the privilege of being His hands and His feet to do His work on earth! If Jesus wants a child taught he needs to find a teacher who will to do it. If he wants a sick person cured he has to find a doctor to make a diagnosis and a surgeon to perform the operation. If He wants the hungry to be fed or a village to have clean water then He needs a group of people to get together to provide what is necessary. If God wants to help someone in miraculous ways, He can do it without us, but normally God chooses to work in this way in answer to our prayers. In all these ways, God chooses to do His work and reveal His care for the world through us. Paul reminds the Corinthians and us that each of us is part of Christ’s Body. That means that God needs you, God needs me! It doesn’t matter how old or how young you are. It doesn’t matter what gifts and abilities God has given you. It doesn’t matter what your nationality is. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor. It doesn’t matter what your family background is. It doesn’t matter what sort of education you have received. Whoever you are, God needs you. He has a job for you to do so that people in this world may experience His love and care! Believe me, God will never leave us on the side line. That should be such an encouragement to us. But it’s also a challenge. Because the truth is sometimes God’s problem is that He’s calling us onto the pitch and we’re saying, “Could you not use somebody else?” I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all that you contribute to the life of our congregation. I know that everything you give is on a voluntary basis and in circumstances where money and time are often at a premium. But at the same time I want to encourage you to keep on stepping up to the plate and getting involved in the life of our church. The reality is, church and all the activities that go with it don’t just happen. They happen because many of you are willing to say to God, “Here I am use me!” Whether that’s arranging flowers, putting together a power point, writing and saying a prayer, playing music, making coffee, taking photos, teaching kids, sweeping floors, supervising kids, attending meetings, counting money, organising fund raisers, updating Facebook, baking cakes, printing leaflets, making phone calls, keeping accounts, liaising with hall users or visiting someone who is sick, the only reason this church can function effectively and be a blessing to so many people in our community and the wider world is because each of us is willing to play our part. I want to thank you for the part that you are playing and I want to encourage those of you have yet to get involved to come and speak to me or your elder, or put your name on a rota and to share the load. The good news is God needs you and we need you to keep our church alive and growing.
The significance of these words struck me very forcibly one Christmas several years ago when I got an ear infection. To be honest with you, I’ve never really appreciated the fact that I can hear. I never really understood or sympathised properly with those of you who have hearing aids. But that has all changed because for 4 weeks I couldn’t hear anything at all out of my right ear and I was concerned that it might stay like that for good. I am fortunate that my hearing was not damaged by that experience, but I can now appreciate in a new way what a huge difference hearing loss can make to a person’s life. I realised again just how important every little part of my body is to the physical and emotional functioning of my whole being. It is that very simple truth that the Corinthians had forgotten. Some of them thought the people who could speak in tongues were the really spiritual ones. In a day and age when medical care was extremely primitive others thought the people in the church who could miraculously heal people were the most important. And so the list goes on….As a result of this internal conflict, the Body of Christ that was the church in Corinth had stopped functioning effectively because they weren’t working in harmony. You know that’s a really important lesson for us to remember in our church too. We are a body. We are all very different and we have all been gifted by God in very different ways. The roles we play in church life are also very different. All these talents or gifts that we possess are gifts to us from God. We can’t take any personal credit for them. God didn’t just give them to us for our own personal satisfaction, although we do get much pleasure out of using our talents. God also gave us them so that we could use them to benefit other people. What’s more, none of these gifts are really more important than any other because if one of them was missing, then our whole church would be affected and would not function effectively. I mean, what would happen if all the musicians decided that they weren’t going to play for us? What would happen if everyone decided they weren’t going to contribute financially? What would happen if the Sunday School Teachers all decided to pack it in? What would happen if Club leaders decided not to turn up for a week? What would happen if we didn’t have Wendy to clean the toilets, hoover, mop the floors and put out chairs? What would happen if no-one was willing to organise and help run our fundraising events? What would happen if no one was willing to lodge money and be our treasurer? What would happen if no-one visited people in hospital or popped in regularly to visit people who are elderly or who live alone? What would happen if no-one ever cut the grass on the back field? What would happen if I decided to lie in some Sunday? (Don’t answer that!) The truth is, without everybody doing the different jobs that they do our church would simply be a shambles. In fact it would probably cease to exist altogether. Take a moment to think about the people you know in church. Never forget we are a team. We need each other. All of us are important. None of us is more important than the other. The part that you play in our congregational life is important. But that role is no more important than what someone else does! 3 We should respect each other: The third lesson we can learn from what Paul says to the Corinthians is that we should respect each other. In his attempt to get the Corinthians to do this, Paul reminds them that it’s very often the less presentable parts of our bodies that we treat with special honour. We give them a respect and a modesty that we don’t give to other parts of our bodies that are more visible. It is those areas of our body which aren’t for public display that we treat as special and private and that is wholly appropriate. Paul says to the Corinthians and to us, “You need to respect each other the way you respect the less presentable parts of your body.” You need to appreciate the importance of those people that some of you seem to think are dispensable. You know, whether it’s at home, where we work or in the clubs and societies we are involved in, there will always be people who do the more menial tasks or take more of a back seat role. Maybe you are one of those people. It’s important that we give those people as much respect as we give to the CEO or those who are the main decision makers. It’s the same in our church. We should have as much respect for the person who types the announcements, hoovers the carpet or takes the photographs as we do for the minister or the Clerk of Session. We should value the importance of an older person as much as we value our children or teens. It’s easy for all of us to have our own hobby horses in church life. It’s easy for all of us to think that one area of church life is more important than another. It’s easy for us to think that certain people are more important. It’s easy for us to think that certain things we do or support are more important than another. But we need to remember the words of Jesus who reminds us in his parable of the mustard seed of the importance of small things. We need to remember Paul’s words to the church in Corinth that all people are equally as important in the life of any congregation. If we’re honest this is a temptation we all have to struggle with. It’s human nature to have our favourites or our own particular priorities. But God calls us to a way that is different- a way of mutual respect, a way of giving everyone equal time and significance, a way of always trying to see the bigger picture, a way of trying to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, a way of taking time to hear both sides of every story. We need to respect each other. 4 We should care for each other: The last lesson we can learn from Paul in this section of his letter to the Corinthians is that we should care for each other. When I had my ear infection, it was important that I went and got it treated. The longer I couldn’t hear, the more I realised how important that was. I began to realise how important my hearing was to functioning normally in everyday life. I couldn’t listen to the radio or music when driving. I didn’t feel connected to the congregation when I was preaching because all I could hear was my own voice and I was never sure how loudly I was talking. I was beginning to annoy my family because I kept saying, “What was that?” and I found it very hard chairing meetings because I couldn’t always hear what people were saying. The fact that one part of my body was suffering and not working properly really affected my life in a lot of ways. It also affected the lives of those around me. Paul says to the Corinthians that it’s exactly the same for their church. He reminds them that because they are a Body, when one of them suffers it affects them all. That’s why he says that they should have equal concern for each other and try and look out for each other. That’s an important lesson for us to learn. We need to try and look out for each other. The truth is that behind the smiles that we put on a Sunday morning, many of us are struggling. We struggle with illness. We struggle with financial problems. We struggle with loneliness. We struggle with work and family demands. We struggle with loss. We struggle with temptation. We struggle with guilt. We struggle with relationships. We struggle with growing older. We struggle with becoming a teenager. We struggle with life events that are beyond our control and so the list goes on. And the truth is that if all of our struggles are to be listened to and helped we need to look out for each other. With the best will in the world, even in a small church like ours, the minister and the elders can’t provide the level of support that is necessary for everyone on our own. We are also people who struggle and need support too! That’s why all of us need to make an effort to get to know a few people in the congregation and to make it our aim to be there for them when it really matters. That’s why all of us need to allow ourselves to be a little more vulnerable and to admit to those closest to us when we really aren’t coping. That’s why each of us has the responsibility of saying to each other, “Thanks for that, or you did that really well or I appreciated what you said.” Support and encouragement must be a collective responsibility if they are to be successful in any growing church. I know that many of you are doing these things and I want to encourage you to continue to do that. If we make these efforts not only will individual people be encouraged and supported but the life of our congregation as a whole will be strengthened and maintained. Conclusion: Paul reminds the quarrelling Corinthians that they are the Body of Christ. Using this analogy he teaches them and us 4 really important lessons for our corporate life.
Prayer for our church family Father we pray today for our church family. We remember those who have been bereaved in recent times. Father bring your deep comfort in those moments when we feel deeply sad because our loved ones are no longer with us. We pray for the most senior members of our congregation especially those who are in residential care. Lord, may they know that they are deeply loved by us and by their families. Give them the grace and patience that they need in the current circumstances and help us never to forget them and to always make time to keep in touch. Help us all to really appreciate our grandparents and parents. May the love and care that we show them, encourage them to still find great enjoyment every day despite the limitations and difficulties that growing older can bring. We pray for those recovering from operations and ask that you will give them patience and enable them to heal well. We remember those who are in hospital. Lord, thank you for all the medical staff who are treating them. Give them great wisdom and grant that through all of their efforts and your healing presence, that our loved ones will soon be well enough to return home. We pray for our children and teenagers. God, give us wisdom and creativity as parents and grandparents to know how to help them to find stimulation and happiness each day despite the continued difficulties imposed by the restrictions of social distancing. Lord, guard their minds and their faith and may they know how much we love them. We think especially of those who are transitioning from one school to another or from school to university. Lord, even if they cannot experience a graduation in the normal way, help them to find ways of saying their goodbyes, appreciating all that they have experienced and to know that there will still be many great and exciting experiences to look forward to. We remember all those who are still working on frontlines that are difficult. Give them courage, perseverance and keep them safe. May they not be fearful in the future despite all that they have experienced during this pandemic. We pray that you would give all of us the continued grace and patience that we need. Help us to stay hopeful knowing that it won’t be long now before we are able to meet together again. Lord, take away our fears and keep us safe as we continue to go about our daily lives. Lord, we thank for our church leaders and for all they are doing in the background to prepare our church for us to return to worship. Give them wisdom and creativity so that despite the restrictions, it will be a rewarding and blessed experience when we meet together for worship. In a moment of quiet let me encourage you to bring our personal prayers and concerns to God and also to think of one or two people in the church and to pray for them…. Lord we know you hear and are ready to answer our prayers. Whatever answer you give may our hearts be open and ready to receive your blessing. Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. Let me encourage you to reflect this week on the gifts God has given you and ask Him how you might best use them to bless others in our church and in society. Let me also encourage you to read the lists of the gifts of the Spirit in the bible and pray that God would give you the gifts he wants and which he feels would most befit our church and community at this time. We are working hard as a leadership behind the scenes to get all our policy and procedures in place so that we may reopen our church for socially distanced services. As we’ve been setting out chairs, and discussing all the other things we can and can’t do, we realise that initially church is going to be very different. But we will do all we can to make it a positive and safe experience. We are aiming for Sunday 6th July but will confirm closer to the time if everything is in place. We will also be emailing out our policy and guidelines for reopening once those are completed. That will probably take us another couple of weeks. Please do pray for our church leadership as we continue to meet, pray and plan for holding our services in a socially distanced way. I hope you can tune in again on Sunday morning as we gather to celebrate father’s day and to reflect more broadly on the gift of our parents and how we might honour those to whom honour is due. To close let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together… Benediction Go into your week with your ears pitched to the sound of God’s voice calling your name. Go into your week with your eyes peeled for the face of Jesus in unexpected places. Go into your week with your soul poised to receive the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Peace. And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” APC Sunday 14th June 2020 “The Fruit of the Holy Spirit” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning Service. Today we continue on with our series on the Holy Spirit. This morning we will be thinking about cultivating the fruit of God’s spirit in our lives. But before we do that let’s take a moment to talk to God, let’s pray… Prayer Almighty and loving God, we thank you for all the ways you have sown the seed of your word in our lives – through the living relationship we share with Christ, through the movement of the Holy Spirit within our hearts, through the preaching and the reading of scriptures, through the fellowship of the church, through the daily experience of your love in the world around us. Forgive us for all those ties when your word has failed to take root. Forgive us for the shallowness at times of our faith and our unwillingness to dig deeper. Forgive our failure to prepare ourselves for worship, our carelessness in making tome for you, our laziness in discipleship, our preoccupation with everything that distracts us from our true calling. Loving God, forgive us that our lives have been barren when they should have borne lasting fruit. Sow afresh your word in our hearts and nurture it within us, so that we may grow in grace and yield a rich harvest of your spirit, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Reading Galatians 5 v16-26 (NIV) 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Reflection “The Fruit of the Holy Spirit” One day Paddy and Seamus were discussing the wonders of the universe as they usually did, every Friday lunchtime. Seamus turned to Paddy and asked, “What’s the world’s greatest invention?” Paddy thought for a moment and then responded wistfully, “Ah, the world’s greatest invention must be the thermos flask.” “Why’s that?” enquired Seamus. “Well, it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, but how does it know?” While God’s Spirit is personal He is also invisible. In some ways God’s Spirit is a bit like the wind or a vacuum in a thermos flask. We can’t see the wind or the vacuum, but we know they are there when we see how it blows the trees or the washing on the line or how it keeps things at a constant temperature. In the same way we can’t see God’s Spirit but we can see his effects in people’s lives. It is common for all of us to doubt at times whether we really are Christians. It often happens when we feel guilty about something we’ve said or done wrong. Or when we pass through a particularly difficult life experience when God seems distant. Our natural reaction at these times is to want to feel something inside or to experience a miraculous or special answer to our prayers in order to feel close to God or to be reassured that we are actually connected to Him. Thankfully there are times when these experiences can be a reality. We may feel goose bumps when we sing a particular song or feel especially close to God during a special time of prayer. God may answer our prayers in ways that can never be attributed to coincidence. But if we are always looking for reassurance in these areas we will be disappointed and may even become disillusioned. That’s because our feelings are so changeable. They can be affected by all sorts of things including our own hormones, medications and even whether we had a good night’s sleep or not. It’s also because, God has not promised to always answer our prayers miraculously or even to always answer with a ‘Yes’. So where can we find a solid foundation that will reassure us that we really are Christians and that God is with us? And what is the best way to show other people that God is real and that he can make a positive difference in our lives? The answer is to look for the visible signs of the changes that the Holy Spirit brings about in our lives. We call these changes or these characteristics the ‘fruit’ of the Holy Spirit. If we can see these right attitudes and actions ripening and blossoming in our lives then we can be certain that the Holy Spirit lives within us. If other people can see and experience these characteristics in us they will be attracted to the God whom we worship. But what does the fruit of the Holy Spirit look like? Well, thankfully, St Paul tells us in a letter he wrote to a group of Christians living in Galatia which is part of modern day Turkey. In Galatians 5: 22-23 Paul writes, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.” I think it’s important to stress that this is one Fruit with 9 segments. It’s not 9 different fruit. That means that all of these characteristics should be developing within our lives at the same time, although for all of us, at any given time, there may be certain segments that need a little watering. It would be great at some point in the future to do an in-depth study on each of these segments, but for today, let me give you a brief taster so that you know what to look for in your own life for reassurance and also so you know what characteristics to ask God to create within you. The first segment is love. The word used by Paul describes a very special type of love. It is a love that always wants the best for other people even if they are not nice to us. It is a tough love that is willing to sacrifice for God and others. It is a love that seems almost impossible to achieve, but the miracle is that the Holy Spirit will help us to be people who really love others in this sacrificial way. The second segment is joy. The joy that the Holy Spirit will give us is a special type of happiness that only God can give us. It describes a deep sense of contentment that we know God loves us and is on our side even when life is difficult or painful. The third segment is peace. The Holy Spirit will give us a special trust that we are God’s friends even though we still aren’t perfect. He will also help us to trust that no matter what happens God is in control and has a good plan to make us more like Jesus. The fourth segment is patience. The Holy Spirit will help us to become people who don’t get cross easily, who don’t always go mad when things don’t go the way we want and who are quick to forgive people when they have annoyed us. He will help us to be people who don’t seek revenge even when we have been wronged. The fifth segment is kindness. The Holy Spirit will help us to be kind. The word the bible uses describes people who have a goodness that is gentle. So the Holy Spirit will help us to be courteous and polite. He will help us to overlook people’s faults and not be sharp or bitter in our attitudes. The sixth segment is goodness. The Holy Spirit will help us to be good. As well as doing what is right and what pleases God it also means that He will cause us to love other people and want to help people who are in need. The seventh segment is gentleness. The Holy Spirit will help us to be gentle. The word used in the bible describes an animal that has been brought under control by its owner. It describes an attitude that is submissive to whatever God wants. It describes an attitude that is teachable and considerate of others. It describes someone who is slow to put themselves or their own ideas forward. The eighth segment is faithfulness. The Holy Spirit will help us to be people who are reliable- People who live by good principles. The Holy Spirit will help us to be people who will do what we have promised- People whom others can trust. The final segment is self-control. The Holy Spirit will help us to be able to control our emotions, our actions and our attitudes. He will enable us to say no to ourselves so that we can help the needs of others. He will help us to be in such control of ourselves that we are fit to serve other people. The last question we need to ask is, “How will the Holy Spirit make these changes in us?” Well the simple answer is He will do it as we do 3 things. He will do it as we read the bible and as we memorise these different characteristics so that we know what we are aiming for. He will do it as we pray and ask Him to help us to change. This is something we need to do every day. We need to pray things like, “Please Lord, help me to be kind to this person. Please help me to be more patient in this situation. Please help me to remember to do such and such so that others can rely on me etc.” Lastly, He can only do these things in our lives if we are willing to play our part. We need to be willing to respond to a situation of need by being generous. We need to be willing to calm down and not blow our temper when something goes wrong or when someone does something that annoys us. We need to be willing to keep our promises so that people can trust us. We need to be willing to forgive people who have hurt us. We need to be willing to trust God even when life is difficult or painful. In the same way that farming is a joint venture between people and God so too growing the fruit of the Spirit is a joint venture between us and God. The farmer must plough and sow and spray knowing that only God can send the sun and rain to make the crops grow. So too, only the Holy Spirit can make His fruit grow in our lives. But we must read our bibles, we must pray and we must be willing to do all that we can to obey how we know He wants us to behave. Conclusion If we are to live like Christ and live lives that we can be proud of then we need the help of God’s Holy Spirit. When we are willing to turn from all we know to be wrong and when we trust that Jesus died for our sins and ask Him to forgive us a miracle happens. God sends His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus to live inside us. We can’t see Him. Sometimes we may feel His presence. But over time we will be able to see the changes that He will make in our lives, making us into better people. These changes that He will create in us are called the fruit of the Holy Spirit. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. These changes will happen as we read our bibles, as we pray and as we are willing to do all that we can to obey how we know God wants us to behave. As we begin to see these changes growing in our lives it gives us reassurance that we really are Christians. As other people see these changes in us they will be attracted to the God whom we worship. Prayer Father God, we thank you that we are able to meet online today. We pray that everyone who logs on to this or any other service of worship today will be encouraged, blessed and helped through this activity. Father, we thank you for giving us this day and for your example of taking time to rest. Help us to make the most of our Sundays and to take time in our busy weeks to rest and to worship so that we might be regularly renewed in body, mind and spirit. Lord, give us your strength, patience and resilience to continue on the path set before us by the unexpected and unchosen circumstances of pandemic and lockdown and in your mercy may this virus soon be eradicated so that we might be able to return to the type of living that we all enjoy. Holy Spirit, we pray that you will continue to grow your beautiful characteristics in our lives. May our lives attract the people we live and work with to you. When they ask us about you, please give us the courage to tell them how much you mean to us and what a difference you have made in our lives. We pray for leaders in the business and retail sectors as they navigate a path towards reopening, Lord, give them a necessary mix of restraint and resourcefulness in guiding return to trading. We pray for shop owners, managers and staff as they think through practical and financial implications for reopening. Lord enable them to arrive at arrangements for safe trading and feasible models for profitability. Lord, we pray for ministers, elders and members involved in delivering pastoral care from a distance. Lord continue to help us to show your love in prayerful, sensitive and practical ways. We ask that you will give great wisdom to all church leaders thinking through how they may reopen church in a way that maintains safe social distancing. We continue to pray for those who are suffering through illness, anxiety, bereavement or loss of employment and in particular we remember families who are unable to visit their loved ones in hospital and the distress this causes. Loving father, bring strength, peace, comfort and the reassurance of your presence and provision to all who need it most. Take a moment to include your own prayers… Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. I hope you’ve been encouraged because you recognise that God’s Spirit is producing fruit in your life and you know He will continue to help you to grow even more. Given the government announcement last Thursday that churches may now reopen from the 29th June we are currently hoping we can begin church services on Sunday 6th July. This will be subject to confirmation from our denomination. There will be more details to follow. Please do pray for our church leadership as we pray and plan for holing our services in a socially distanced way. I hope you can tune in again on Sunday morning as we reflect more deeply on the role the Holy Spirit plays in producing spiritual fruit in our lives. I also want to say a big thank you for all your support and prayers for my mum and family at this difficult time. To close let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together… Benediction May God, who began a good work in you, continue to be at work in your life, guiding, teaching and equipping you until Jesus Christ returns. May your love and compassion continue to grow- a love that is full of knowledge and wise insight, so that you will be able to recognize what really matters, and live a pure and blameless life. May you live a life centred in the Holy Spirit, a life that bears rich fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, tolerance and self-control – all the good things that come from following the Spirit, for living this way will bring much glory and praise to God. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” Listen to Music To Make You Happy10th June 2020 APC “Black lives matter!” – “Lessons from the Good Samaritan” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our midweek prayers and reflections. Following the death of George Floyd and the media discussion that has followed, I thought it would be appropriate today to interrupt our series on the Holy Spirit to think about what it means to love our fellow man as we reflect together on the story of the Good Samaritan. But before we do that let’s talk to God, let’s pray… Opening Prayer Loving God, we come to you today as the family of your people, those you have united in Christ, and as we come, reminded of that great truth, we give you thanks for all the families to which we belong. Lord of all, join us together in love. We think of the families among whom we have been raised – those with whom we have shared so much, to whom we are especially close, and who will always be uniquely precious to us. Lord of all, join us together in love. We think of the family of our church – the fellowship we find here, the friends we have made, and the encouragement we give to one another. Lord of all, join us together in love. We think of the family of the church as a whole – those across Ireland, across the world across the centuries who are one with us in Christ. Lord of all, join us together in love. We think of the family of humankind, the common bond that ties us together, the wonderful variety of peoples and nations of which we form a part, the diversity of cultures, customs. Lord of all, join us together in love. Loving God, we thank you that we share something in common with all people near and far, our lives interwoven, inter-related, interdependent, intertwined. Help us we pray to recognise more fully what that means, to appreciate the responsibilities it brings and the opportunities to share it offers. So may we learn to love our neighbours as ourselves and to see your image in every one. Lord of all, join us together in love. For the sake of Jesus Christ our Lords, Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Reading Luke 10: 29-37 The Parable of the Good Samaritan 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” Reflection “Black lives matter!” – “Lessons from the Good Samaritan” “Black lives matter.” What began as a statement of truth following the murder of George Floyd, has evolved into a global movement where all of us are being challenged to reflect on our prejudices and in particular our treatment of people whose skin colour is different from our own. I welcome this movement wholeheartedly because all lives do matter and every form of prejudice is wrong because it causes untold hurt to those who are its victims. One of the reasons this movement is so important is because it has caused many of us to realise that we have become complacent, blinded to the reality that despite all that was achieved through the peaceful protests of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi, prejudice, racial-hatred and cruel injustice are still alive and kicking in our world today. What’s most disturbing of all is that the seeds of these disgusting attitudes and behaviours lurk not far below the surface in all of our hearts, even in those of us who consider ourselves to be religious, and in those of us who are fully behind the movement “Black lives matter!” So what can we do? Where can we go to be re-awakened to the prejudices within our own hearts? Where can we get the help that we need to be different, to make a lasting impression on this broken world? Well let me direct your thoughts to Jesus, the greatest glimpse we’ll get of God this side of heaven. And let me turn your thoughts to his encounter with someone who was completely blind to their own inner prejudice. The story begins in Luke’s gospel, when an expert in Jewish Law asks Jesus what seems like a reasonable question. “Teacher”, he says, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Luke tells us that the man was out to test Jesus rather than to get an answer to his own spiritual searchings. He probably wanted to know if Jesus really knew the Jewish laws, if He was a true or false prophet. Despite the hidden motives behind the man’s request, Jesus takes the opportunity to lead the man forward in his understanding of God. Instead of giving him a direct answer, Jesus responds with a question. He says, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” Immediately the man quotes two verses of scripture that he would have known off by heart. Most likely he would have had these verses written on a tiny piece of paper and housed securely in a little leather box called a ‘phylactery’ which was tied around his wrist. He puts these two verses from Deuteronomy and Leviticus together in his mind and replies, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbour as yourself.” “That’s the right answer!” says Jesus, “If you do this you will live forever!” Unfortunately this wasn’t enough for the man. He was a scribe. His job was to go through the law with a magnifying glass and try to come up with exact details of how each of God’s laws could be carried out in daily life. General principles of ‘loving God’ and ‘loving other people’ were too simplistic an answer for this educated academic. He was used to defining words like ‘neighbour’. In fact, in their academic research, some rabbis had narrowed the meaning of ‘neighbour’ down to their fellow Jews. Some of them were so strict in this interpretation that they said “it was illegal to help a gentile woman in childbirth because this would only bring another gentile into the world.” So to try and get a more specific answer from Jesus, to see where he stood on this point of teaching, the man asks Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus knows this man’s mind-set needs challenged and changed, so he tells him a story with a punch line that will shock him to his senses. It is the story we know as “the Good Samaritan”. The story would have been familiar to the man. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notorious. It was narrow, rocky and twisty and dropped over 3,600 feet. It was perfect bandit country! Hardly a day would pass without a reported mugging in the daily news along this notorious black spot. The story was familiar, but the actions of the characters and the identity of the hero would take this religious leader by complete surprise. Jesus includes 4 main characters in the story. The first is a rather foolish traveller. He is carrying valuables and he is alone. Anyone with common sense would have travelled such a dangerous route in a larger group of people. Even though it is deeply sad, it is no surprise then that this person ended up robbed, beaten up and lying at the side of the road. The second character is a Priest. His daily job was to help minister to God’s people as they came for worship in the Jewish temple. He would have been familiar with God’s ceremonial law recorded in Numbers 19 v 11. This stated that anyone who touched a dead person would become unclean. Not knowing if the body was dead or alive the Priest wasn’t willing to take the risk of losing his turn of duty in the temple. So he walked on by. The third person to take the stage is a Levite. Like the Priest, he also would have had a role to play in the temple worship. Perhaps he too walked on by because of the fear of ritual defilement. It may even be that he was simply trying to avoid any danger to himself. It was a common practice for a robber to lie at the side of the road pretending to be injured. When someone came to help, the rest of the gang would jump out and ambush the unsuspecting helper. It may be that the Levite was simply applying the common sense rule of safety first. Whatever his reasons, he too walked on past the injured traveller. Undoubtedly the scribe who was listening to Jesus’ story would have been somewhat surprised that the Levite and the Priest did not stop to help despite understanding the possibility of ambush or spiritual defilement. However, his jaw must have dropped when he heard the conclusion to the story. For onto the scene steps a character who would have been despised by any strict orthodox Jew. This man was a Samaritan. The word Samaritan was sometimes used to describe someone who was a law-breaker or a heretic. ‘Real’ Jews would have absolutely no dealings with anyone considered to be a Samaritan. To the scribe listening to Jesus, the Samaritan would automatically be seen as the villain in the story. What a shock he must have got when Jesus goes on to paint the Samaritan as the hero. When he sees the man lying at the side of the road the Good Samaritan rushes to his aid. He has no worries about ritual defilement. He sets aside his natural fears for his personal safety. He forgets about the inconvenience and the cost of helping- He may have missed an important meeting. He may have upset a few people by being late. It certainly cost him in time and effort. A ripped shirt or scarf to act as a man-made bandage. A generous helping of olive oil and wine. The blood stains on his clothes and the blankets on his donkey. A night away from his family in a roadside hotel with no mobile to phone home. A lot of explaining to do to his worried wife without any pictures as evidence. He had to cover the man’s expenses for the duration of his stay in the hotel and with no cheques or postal service he had to make another journey back to the hotel to make the payment. If anyone was ever an example of what it means to show God’s love to another human being it was this man. Here was a man who was showing the signs of having eternal life- a love for God that flowed out in love to others. A life in God that would last for all eternity. What’s more he was a Samaritan. He wasn’t supposed to be religious, he wasn’t supposed to have any claim on God. When he has finished telling the story, Jesus turns to the Jewish scribe and asks, “Which of these 3 characters do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The scribe replies, “The one who had mercy on Him.” “Then go and do likewise,” says Jesus. We can learn a number of important lessons in this parable of Jesus. I suppose the first lesson is an answer to the original question, “How can I inherit eternal life?” The story of the Good Samaritan suggests that eternal life is a gift that we receive from God that causes us to love God and love all other people. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Through Jesus’ death we become God’s friends when we repent and believe. When we experience God’s love in Christ we begin to love Him in return. As our relationship with God deepens we become more like Him and we find ourselves wanting to share God’s love by being kind and helpful to other people. This is the essence of eternal life. It is a life lived in God, a life of love which begins with God, flows into our lives and then flows out again into the lives of other people. This better way of life, this ‘Eternal life’, is a gift of God. It is not something we can engineer by our own efforts. I think that’s an important piece of the jigsaw that needs to be included in the ‘Black lives matter’ movement. I think if we are to see lasting change within society, not only must we campaign and re-educate people, but we must also encourage people to seek the help and the power of God to overcome the prejudices that lie hidden within their hearts. History has proven time and again that education on its own does not have the power to effect long-term change. It must be coupled with the power of the Divine to change the heart. This is what telling people the good news about Jesus can do. God’s love for us changes us from the inside out. It motivates us to love Him and love other people. This is eternal life. It is a life that begins here on earth and will continue forever even after death. It is a life that can overcome the deep seated prejudices in all of our hearts. Reflect What are the prejudices that you are blind to? Have you realised that you might need the power of God to help you to change? The second lesson is that we need to be wary of the many obstacles to love. As the characters of the priest and the Levite suggest, there are many obstacles to loving other people. We may simply be too busy to notice or make time. We may have natural pride that feels people deserve the predicament they are in. Our prejudices may cause us to look down on others and not offer help because we feel threatened or lack an understanding of those who are in some way different from us. We may simply be unwilling to pay the price either in time or money or effort that it will take to get involved. We may even feel that there is nothing we can really offer or that whatever we do will not make much difference anyway. There are any number of things that can hold us back from really loving others or helping others. Only this morning I heard the story of a young woman from the Caribbean who has grown up in Ireland but has experienced terrible racial abuse on many occasions in Dublin. She described one incident when a gang of individuals hurled racial abuse at her on public transport, and even poured a can of beer over a baby’s head. Her biggest concern was that no one else said anything. Even if they were too afraid to confront the gang, she was deeply hurt that no one made eye contact with her or asked her if she was ok. What was it that prevented those people from showing any form of support? Evil prevails when good men stay silent. Reflect What are the obstacles that might be preventing you from showing solidarity with those who are experiencing injustice or making a stand against attitudes or actions you know to be wrong? The third lesson in this story is about who the objects of our love should be. They should be those who God loves. And who does God love? He loves everyone even if they don’t deserve it. The traveller in the story was stupid. He shouldn’t have been travelling alone, carrying valuables. In one sense he deserved what he got. But the Samaritan loved him despite his foolishness. None of us deserved for Christ to die on the cross for us because we are the ones who have sinned. We are the ones who have grieved God. Yet God still loved us enough to die for us! So too we need to love people even if they are in trouble because of their own actions. Whether that’s the child in the class who’s hard to handle, our own kids when they do something foolish, the addict who is placing a drain on public services or someone who’s hurt us in the past who has fallen on hard times. God calls us here to love all people even when they don’t deserve it. This story also challenges us to love all people no matter what their creed, their colour or their country. The person who saved the day was a Samaritan. Samaritan’s were despised by any orthodox Jew. Yet by choosing their arch enemy as the hero of the story Jesus was saying to the scribe- Look! It was those you consider to be ungodly that actually showed the greatest likeness to God in this story. He was the one who truly showed love to God by loving his fellow human being! Therefore if he showed signs of having God’s love then how can you despise him the way you do? Here Jesus challenges us to love all people no matter what their creed, colour or their social class and to stand against every form of prejudice that we may encounter. Reflect Who are the people in need that you do not love because you feel they deserve it? Who are the people that you do not love because they are somehow different to you? The final lesson this story teaches us is what the outcome of true love will be. You see real love always results in action. It is not just an emotional feeling towards someone in need, although compassion is where it must begin. True love moves from compassion to action. I’m sure the Priest and the Levite both felt some sort of sympathy when they passed the man’s body at the side of the road. But neither of these men really loved him. It was only the Samaritan who truly loved him because he took the time and made the effort to help him. That’s what God’s love is like. God didn’t just say to us, “I love you.” That would have done us no good. No, God showed His love to us practically. He came and fed the hungry. He healed the sick and welcomed the stranger. Above all, He willingly went to the cross and died so that we could be released from the guilt and power of our sins. God showed His love to us in action! That’s why if we are to show God’s love we must take action. Sure there is only so much we can do. Sure our resources our scarce. But if we are looking and if we are willing, God will present each of us with fellow travellers that we can help along life’s journey. God’s love is practical it’s not just an emotional feeling. Reflect What are you doing to practically share the love of God? Conclusion The Parable of the Good Samaritan is a lesson in love. It shows us that eternal life is not something we earn it’s a gift of God gives us. That gift is Jesus Christ. The miracle is that when we receive God’s love it motivates us to love God back and to love other people the way He has loved us. It reminds us that there can be many obstacles to loving others. We need to ask God to show us these and help us to remove them. It teaches us that the objects of our love are to be all people without exception no matter what their colour, class or creed. Even if we think they deserve their troubles, even if we consider them to be our enemy. God loves everyone and so must we. It demonstrates the nature of God’s love. It is practical action that springs from compassion. May God help us to think about these lessons and may we ask Him to apply them to our lives, Amen. Prayer Gracious God, you call us to love you with all our hearts and minds and souls. You challenge us to love our neighbour as ourselves. You tell us through Christ that the whole law is summed up in one single commandment; to love. It all sounds so easy, so straightforward, but we know in reality it is so very difficult. Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love. Too often we love only ourselves, our every thought for our own welfare, our own ends, our own esteem, our own pleasures. Too often we reserve our love for the exclusive few – our families, our closest friends, our own colour, class, creed or clan. And too often we are forgetful of others, indifferent to them, even hostile. Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love. Yet worse than that, even when we think we love we are sometimes deceiving ourselves. We are impatient with other’s mistakes. We are slow to give help when it is needed, especially if it means putting ourselves out. We are envious of others good fortune, more concerned with our own well-being than that of those around us. We are careless in what we say and self-centred in the way we think, ever prone to take offence, bearing grievances and harbouring resentment, even distorting and deceiving in order to get our way or to avoid facing truths we would rather ignore. Gracious God, forgive us the feebleness of our love. All too easily our love is destroyed. Instead of holding fast through difficulties, we automatically find ourselves believing the worst, feeling ourselves betrayed, giving up on love instead of working to nurture it. Lord of all it is hard to love, especially when love is thrown back in our faces, or when those we are faced by seem unlovely or when love is costly or demanding. We confess we wonder at times whether love is the right way at all, or simply a naïve illusion, a pleasant but foolish fantasy. But you have shown us the way of love, made flesh in Christ- love that came to our world despite rejection, that reaches out to us in all our unloveliness, that was willing to pay the highest price and make the ultimate sacrifice. And through that love you offer life, not only to us but to all people, a life that can one day be free from all things that divide and hurt and frighten us. So now, take the little love we have – nurture, deepen and expand it until we have learned what love really means, until your love flows through our hearts, until love is all in all. Take a moment now to include your own prayers… Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. I hope you’ve felt challenged at the reality that we need God’s help to overcome the prejudices in our own hearts and to do all we can to stand against such things wherever we encounter them in society. Given the government announcement last Thursday that churches may now reopen from the 29th June we are currently hoping we can begin church services on Sunday 6th July. This will be subject to confirmation from our denomination. There will be more details to follow. Please do pray for our church leadership as we pray and plan for holing our services in a socially distanced way. I hope you can tune in again on Sunday morning as we reflect more deeply on the role the Holy Spirit plays in producing spiritual fruit in our lives. I also want to say a big thank you for all your support and prayers for my mum and family at this difficult time. To close let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together… Benediction Go now, with your trust in Christ who quenches your soul’s thirst with the wine of God’s love. Do not be silent about God’s faithfulness, when in need, take shelter in God’s provisions and keep your hearts honest. And may God rejoice over you and call you “My Delight”; May Christ Jesus bring out the best in you, to his glory; And may the Spirit equip you all with gifts for the common good. We leave here to love and serve May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” 7th June 2020 APC Trinity Sunday – “One yet 3, it’s a mystery” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning service. Today is another special Sunday in the Christian Year. Today is Trinity Sunday. It’s the day we deliberately set aside time to reflect on the mystery revealed in scripture that God is One, yet He is made up of 3 persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is what orthodox Christians have believed right from the beginning of the Christian church. But why do we believe this and what difference does it make anyway? Well that’s what we’ll be considering this morning. But before we do that let’s talk to God, let’s pray… Opening Prayer Great and loving God, we greet you this day with praise and wonder. We greet you as the creator of the ends of the earth, sovereign over space and time, greater than we can ever imagine. Gracious and living Christ, we greet you this day with joy and thanksgiving. We greet you as our Lord, our friend, our Saviour. Mysterious and mighty spirit, we greet you this day with awe and worship. We greet you as our guide and inspiration, our source of strength and comfort, a living inner reality. Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we greet you this day and we praise you that you are here to greet us and everyone, today and every day, here and everywhere. Help us to meet with you and grow closer to you through this time of worship. Help us to glimpse your glory and make it known through all we say and do to the glory of your name, Amen. Lord’s Prayer Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever, AMEN. Bible Readings Deuteronomy 6 v 4-5 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 2 Thessalonians 2 v 13-17 13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. 16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace give us eternal encouragement and good hope, 17 encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so what? Today is Trinity Sunday. It’s the day that we reflect on the Orthodox Christian teaching that there is One God, who is made up of 3 persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But how can this be? Well, if we’re honest, the first thing that must be said is that this Christian teaching of the Trinity is a mystery. One theologian Jim Packer describes it like this - “the doctrine of the trinity confronts us with perhaps the most difficult thought that the human mind has ever been asked to handle.” Having said that, while the Christian teaching of the trinity is a mystery that is impossible to completely understand, it is still a teaching that is true and that matters. It is true because although there is no individual verse in the bible that categorically proves it, the unfolding picture that we find as we read from Genesis to Revelation, is of a single God who demands to be understood in a Trinitarian manner. Let me give you a few examples of what I mean by that. To begin with, both the Old and New Testaments clearly teach that God is one. So we read in Deuteronomy 6 v 4 “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God is one.” In the New Testament, Mark 12 v 29-30 records Jesus quoting these same verses when someone asks him the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” In response Jesus says, “The most important one is this, Hear Oh Israel the Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” I could quote you many other verses, but these alone are sufficient to show you that both the Old and New Testaments teach us that there is only one God. But the bible also teaches us that within this One God there is a plurality of 3 Persons. In the OT this is only hinted at dimly: E.g. in Gen 1 v26 we read, “Then God said, let us make man in our image.” And similarly in Gen 11 v7 we read The Lord said, “Come let us go down and confuse their language.” These verses show evidence of plurality within the One God within the OT. However, in the NT, the lights of the Trinitarian nature of God shine more brightly and clearly. The NT speaks of the 3 personal agents of Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together in a team to bring about salvation. St. Paul reflects this Trinitarian nature of God in the closing of his second letter to the Christians in Corinth. He writes, “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” We repeat these words of Paul at the end of every service because they remind us that the God we worship is a Trinity. But while the NT highlights the distinction of the three persons within the Trinity, it also clearly identifies each person of the Trinity as being God. So in Acts 5 v 3-4 we read that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God. In John 1 v1 The Word (Jesus Christ) is described as being God and in many of his letters, Paul identifies the Father as being God when he writes “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” So we see that the message of the bible is a mystery. It teaches us that God is one. Yet it also teaches us that within that One Godhead there are 3 distinct but co-equal persons. Father, Son and Holy Spirit who work together in the One God’s great plan of salvation. So are people right in accusing us of worshipping 3 Gods? Are they right in saying that the doctrine of the trinity just doesn’t make sense so therefore it can’t be true? No, I think they are wrong. I think we are right to believe in the Trinity because this is how the bible reveals to us who God is. Yes, I would agree that it is a mystery. But I think we are right to believe that there is one God who is made up of 3 persons, the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. And finally, so what? Why does the teaching that God is a trinity matter? Well there are a number of possible answers to that question but let me leave you with a few to consider this morning.
I want to encourage you to take some time this week to get alone with God and to think about Him in His Trinitarian nature. I hope that as you do that it will cause you to appreciate just how awesome and how amazing God is because His 3 in 1 nature is beyond our full comprehension. Then in response, let me encourage you to worship Him as Father, Son and Spirit by talking and singing to Him about His greatness and nature that is beyond our full understanding. 2 It should lead us to balance. A second reason the trinity is important is that it helps us to maintain a healthy balance within our Christian lives. The doctrine of the Trinity reminds us that in all our worship and witness as a church we need to give equal thought and honour to each person of the Trinity. We need to be wary of neglect. For example, often we honour the Father as Creator and for sending His Son and we honour the Son by focusing on the cross, resurrection and His High Priestly role in heaven. But what about the Spirit? Do we not often neglect Him and His ministry? For example, we dishonour Him when we treat Him as an ‘it’, or ‘force’ rather than a personal ‘He.’ We dishonour Him, by denying His ability to do anything, including miracles. We dishonour Him when we don’t think about the gifts he gives to us and when we don’t allow some of those gifts to be used in the life and witness of the church. We dishonor Him when we don’t leave the door open for God to speak to us or do things among us in miraculous ways. Yet in giving due honour and respect to each person of the Trinity, we need to remember that they always work together in everything. So we need to be careful that we don’t become guilty of worshipping three Gods or that we don’t worship one person of the Trinity above the others. For example it could be argued that in some Christian circles that the Holy Spirit is given undue precedence over the Father and the Son. So in giving each person their place within the Godhead and acknowledging their complete unity, we thank God that His Spirit points us towards the Son who in turn moves us to contemplate the love of the Father. To be honest, I don’t know exactly how we maintain the correct balance in all of this because of the inherent mystery in the Trinity. At best, we need to be conscious that the Lord is One, yet three, and seek to hold the tension between the unity of the Godhead in everything while also giving expression to the diversity of roles of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In light of this, the second thing I want you to do this week is to sit down and ask yourself, “Do I think about God in a Trinitarian way? Am I neglecting any person within the Trinity? Am I focusing on one person of the trinity too much? What can I do to correct this imbalance in my thinking and practice?” 3 It should lead us to bind. Lastly, the doctrine of the Trinity challenges us to do everything in our power to maintain right relationships with other people and especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. You see, despite the differences of the 3 Persons within the Trinity they always act as One. The father, the Son and the Holy Spirit enjoy a perfect loving relationship with each other. Through Christ we are invited to join in that relationship. Since all human beings are made in the image of God ideally we too were meant to experience life in loving relationship with other people and especially our Christian brothers and sisters. We were meant to complement one another and to live in harmony together. Jesus said that our greatest witness is the love that we have for one another and our unity in diversity. It’s only as we strive to love and forgive one another and to worship and work together in community that we can truly reflect the nature of our God. That’s why it’s been great to be able to maintain our connections through these online services and zoom meetings during the lockdown. But it’s also why it’s essential that as soon as the lockdown has ended that we join together again to worship and work together. One of the reasons we have all struggled so badly with the restrictions imposed by lockdown is because this way of life goes against everything that God is in Himself and everything that he has created us to be. It is when we love, care for each other and do life together as human beings, that we most clearly reflect what God is like and can most fully enjoy the life he has given us. Its only when all people are loved and treated equally that the beauty and character of God is reflected. So please put the 26th July in your diary and join us for our return to worshipping together. It will be socially distanced of course, but it will be a step in the right direction of how God intends us to live. And as we return to worship and work together let me encourage us all to do all that we can to love one another and to be united. That will include using and sharing all our gifts and abilities and joining with all the other churches in our town as well. It will mean treating all people with equality and respect and celebrating the dignity of difference. So the final thing I want you to do this week is to ask yourself – How can I better reflect the wonderful unity and diversity that exists within God in my relationships with other people inside and outside the church? Conclusion: There is One God who exists in three co-equal persons of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is a mystery that should lead us to worship all three persons equally and to do all in our power to maintain our love and unity with other people, and to ensure that all people are treated with equal respect and dignity. Prayer Loving God, we bring before you the sick and suffering of our world, all those wrestling with illness in body, mind or spirit. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. We pray for those afflicted in body – enduring physical pain, overwhelmed by disabling disease, waiting for an operation or further treatment and fearful of what the future might hold, or living with the knowledge of terminal illness. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. We pray for those disturbed or troubled in mind – those whose confidence has broken down, those unable to cope with the pressures of daily life, those oppressed by false terrors of the imagination, those facing the dark despair of clinical depression. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. We pray for those afflicted in spirit – those who feel their lives to be empty, or whose beliefs are threatened or who have lost their faith, or who worship gods of their own making with no power to satisfy, or whose hearts have become bitter and twisted, and their minds dark. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. Living God we thank you for all who work to bring help, wholeness and healing to the sick – doctors and nurses, surgeons and medical staff, psychiatrists, counselors, clergy and therapists. Support and strengthen all who share in the world of healing, all who strive to bring relief, all who minister to others. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. Grant them your wisdom and guidance, your care and compassion, your strength and support. Equip them in all they do and bring wholeness through them. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. Finally we pray for your church in the healing ministry you have called it to exercise, an inner healing of body mind and soul which only you can offer. Grant that your people everywhere may be so filled with your Holy Spirit, and so touched by the grace of Christ, that they may share effectively in the wider work of healing, through their life and witness bringing wholeness to broken people and a broken world. Lord in your mercy, hear our payer. Take a few moments now to bring your own prayers to God… Lord, thank you for the gift of prayer. Please continue to teach us to pray. In the name of Christ we ask it, Amen. Closing Words It’s been a joy and privilege to share with you again today. Thanks again for logging on. I hope you’ve felt inspired and challenged as we’ve reflected on the mystery that God is one yet 3. Currently we are planning to reopen on Sunday 26th July. Please do pray for our church leadership as we pray and plan for holing our services in a socially distanced way. I hope you can tune in again on Wednesday morning as we reflect more deeply ion the role the Holy Spirit plays in our lives. I want to thank Alison and the choir for all their inspirational singing. You will be able to enjoy their latest piece “Christ Triumphant, ever reigning” in a moment. But first, let me share the benediction, after which I invite you to say the grace together… Benediction So now we leave this space of worship And while so much of the road ahead is uncertain, So much of life a mystery, we know some things that are as solid and sure as the ground beneath our feet, and the sky above our heads. We know God is love. We know Christ’s light endures. We know the Holy Spirit is there, found in the space between all things, closer to us than our next breath, binding us to each other, until we meet we again, So go in peace and may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and for evermore, Amen.” |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
July 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed