APC 19th July 2020 “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.” Welcome and Introduction Good morning everyone and welcome to our Sunday morning worship. Today we continue our reflections on what it really means to love using Paul’s description we find in 1 Corinthians 13. So far we have discovered that true love ‘is not selfish’ that ‘it keeps no records of wrongs’ that ‘it is not jealous’ and that ‘it is not proud’. Today we will be meditating on the truth that ‘love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.’ But as always, let’s begin by talking to God. Let’s pray… Prayer Loving God, we are glad to come and worship you, glad to sit in your presence and give you the honour due to your name. Praise and glory, thanksgiving and worship are yours by right. You are greater than our highest thoughts, mightier than we can ever comprehend, before all, in all, and beyond all. Praise and glory, thanksgiving and worship are yours by right. So we come acknowledging your greatness, marvelling at your power, rejoicing in your love, celebrating your blessings and praising you for all the mercy you have shown to us throughout our lives. Praise and glory, thanksgiving and worship are yours by right. Accept now our words of prayer, the thoughts of our hearts, this act of worship. Praise and glory, thanksgiving and worship are yours by right. Teach us more of all you have done and will continue to do, and help us to show the sincerity of what we offer now by the way we live our lives tomorrow and in the days beyond. Praise and glory, thanksgiving and worship are yours by right, now and for evermore. 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 Psalm 1 1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither-- whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. 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. Reflection “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.” Do you ever get a little upset when you read something in the bible? When I read (red) the verse that I want to speak about this morning that was my initial reaction. I’m sure that some of the Christians in Corinth who first read (red) these words felt the same. They were in a letter from the priest or pastor who started their church, a man named Paul. He says to them, “love does not delight in evil, it rejoices with the truth.” When I read (red) those words this week I thought to myself, “Why would Paul write something so obvious to a group of Christian people?” “How could Paul think that you or I or any of the Christians in Corinth could delight in evil and not care about what was right?” I felt insulted to think that I or any other Christian would need to be reminded of something so apparent. So I asked myself, “What does Paul mean?” “What point am I missing here?” Having consulted a number of commentaries and several online articles I have discovered that what Paul is talking about is “Schadenfreude.” That’s a German word that describes the malicious enjoyment of the mishaps or the misfortunes of others. When I read that, the phrase that Paul used suddenly began to make sense to me. You see, it wasn’t that the Corinthians loved evil and hated everything that was good. But it was true that because of petty rivalry, inner power struggles, hurtful incidents and the odd moral scandal within the congregation, many of the Corinthian Christians had probably begun to engage in post-worship gossip over coffee or in the car park. The topic of conversation was “Schadenfreude” – taking delight in the weaknesses and failures and misfortunes of other members of the church. Now that is something we can all understand! Let’s be honest- all of us are familiar with “Schadenfreude.” It’s that inner urge to see our golf opponent land in the bunker, or our tennis buddy hit the net. If you’ve ever wanted someone else’s child to mess up on the stage or the sports field so that your child looks better or gets an opportunity to play you have “delighted in evil and not rejoiced with the truth” Newspapers and journalists love “Schadenfreude.” And if we’re honest, so often, we do too. We are thrilled by breaking news of the latest scandal among celebrities or politicians. We secretly rejoice when self-righteous leaders fall from grace or opposition party leaders are caught in some misdemeanour. At one point in the early days of the Covid outbreak, it seemed to me that countries were almost gloating that their death rate was much lower than that of another nation because it proved that their decision making was superior. All of this is “delighting in evil rather than rejoicing with the truth”. And all of us, if we’re honest, at times engage in it. We all love a bit of “Schadenfreude”. St. Paul says to us this morning, “you need to stop it!” “If you talk and act like this you are not emulating Christ, you are not acting in love.” Now that makes more sense to me. I may feel convicted by what Paul says, but I don’t feel insulted because I know it’s something that all of us struggle with. But why do we do it? Well, I suppose in some strange way all of us seem to be interested and fascinated by the misfortunes of others. We’re easily drawn to the darker aspects of life and what goes on behind closed doors. It gives us something to talk about during our lunch break. It brings some excitement into an otherwise ‘same old’ of a day. None of which makes it right by the way! And perhaps there is also a defensive mechanism within it too. It gives us something to feel morally superior about. It makes us look and feel that little bit better, our lot in life that bit easier to bear, and not so guilty about our own moral failures. Ultimately, it’s because, like everyone else, we are sinners. We have an inner bias that causes us to roll towards feeling delighted when our enemies suffer. It’s not that there shouldn’t be justice- of course there should. But often our personal attitudes go beyond justice when we indulge in feelings of deep satisfaction when someone who has hurt us or our loved ones drops dead or is imprisoned. None of this, says Paul, is acting in love. You see Christian love, God’s love, can never delight in evil. It can never enjoy listening to the latest scandal or someone’s fall from grace. It can never rejoice in seeing pain inflicted on another human being even if they seem to deserve it. However much the punishment fits the crime, love takes no joy in seeing others locked up forever or killed in revenge. That’s why Jesus tells us to visit those in prison and to leave justice to the courts and to God. You see it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. God loves us and forgives us even though we don’t deserve it. When we contemplate that and when we transfer that love to our enemies or to those who have fallen into sin, even serious sin, then the whole equation changes. It’s not that people who have hurt others should be left unpunished. It’s not that the laws of the land or the feelings of those who have been hurt don’t matter. We should do everything we can to ensure that people who have been deeply wronged receive justice. For many that is part of their healing process. But in addition we must apply God’s love and His grace and mercy to every situation. When we do that we cannot rejoice in evil. We weep with those who weep, we remind ourselves, “but for the grace of God there go I” and we long for the truth of the good news to have the final word. For me this becomes very personal as someone whose grandfather was killed in the troubles. For me it would be so easy to continue to hate certain people because of their past associations and to wish them nothing but harm. But that is not love. So I rejoice in any moves people make away from violence. And I rejoice in the thought that these people might also discover the liberating freedom of knowing that in Christ we can receive forgiveness for our sins, and the power of the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out. That is the truth that all of us are to rejoice in! That is the hope that we are to hold out and desire for all people, even those who we consider to be our enemies or who have sinned very seriously. And so we must all pray today that God will deliver us from “Schadenfreude.” May he enable us not to take enjoyment in the mishaps or the misfortunes of others. And may he help us to rejoice in the truth that Jesus Christ can set the worst of sinners free! Prayer Lord thank you that an increasing number of people are gradually returning to work. May they find pleasure again in fulfilling God’s calling in their employment. We pray for all who are returning to work, either from home or in the workplace. May we be fruitful and effective in playing our part in getting daily life and the economy back to more normal patterns. Thank you for the return to life of local communities as shops and services begin to reopen and become the focal points for friends and neighbours meeting once again. We pray for business owners as they continue to grapple with the limitations of social distancing. Father God, enable them to be creative and imaginative in ensuring safety and profitability. God, we thank you for the patience and perseverance of those who have had to shield and exercise greatest caution and restraint during lockdown due to underlying health conditions. We pray that as some shielding restrictions are relaxed, a greater freedom and confidence will be enjoyed by those gradually beginning to edge back to a more normal rhythm of life. We pray that those waiting for important scans or medical procedures may be able to be seen more easily in the days ahead. God, we thank you for all the work that goes on behind the scenes in our church even during lockdown. Thank you especially for our Kirk Session and Committee and for all the work that they have done to get our church ready for reopening next Sunday. We thank you too, for Alison and for all the members of our virtual choir and for every way that they have added to our online services and encouraged us. Lord, for those of us who are able, give us the courage we need to return to church on Sunday and how ever different it will seem, may we find that as we draw near to you that you draw near to us and bless us in a very special way. Lord, we thank you for the prolonged spell of good weather which has been your gift to us and how it has made bearing the restrictions of lockdown easier. We pray that the summer period will bring much needed rest, renewal and relaxation to a society that has suffered stress and been stretched by the circumstances of this pandemic. Take a few moments to pray for others… 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. You should have received an email from us last week. If for any reason that hasn’t come through to you please do contact us as soon as possible to let us know. That email contained 3 attachments – a letter outlining all the plans for safe return to church, a letter from our treasurer and our Covid 19 policy which we need you to sign and return by email or else bring with you to church on the first day you return. I want to say a huge thankyou to our leadership and our committee who have put in an enormous amount of work behind the scenes to enable us to return to church safely. I also want to thank Alison and all the choir members for all their fantastic recordings and Dave for all his uploading of services to the website and Facebook. Thanks also to Tara who will be preparing a special activities pack for each of our young children which they can use during our Sunday services. I do hope that many of you will feel confident enough to come to church on the 26th. Please do read through my letter of guidelines a few times so that you are familiar with all the protocols. I know it’s going to be different for a while but it’s another step forward and it will be special to be able to meet and worship together again all be it in a socially distanced way. We have put in a lot of effort to make reopening possible so it would be a great encouragement to me to see as many of you as possible there. You can be sure that every step has been taken to make our church a safe environment for everyone who is able to attend. The service will only last about 40-45 minutes but I will try to make it as engaging for us all as possible using interactive and pre-recorded readings, choir pieces and prayers on the screen as well as live reflective pieces of music and video clips for the kids. For those of you who are still in a vulnerable category and are unable to make it, there will be a recorded service online at 10.00am as usual. In church and online we will be learning more about what it means to really love. 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 if you are prone to gossiping or taking any pleasure in the downfall of others. There will be no midweek recording this Wednesday. I will need more time this week to finalise all the details for reopening as well as planning and coordinating the extra elements for the reopening service on the 26th. I hope to see you at church on Sunday. We will aim to start at 10.00am as usual but if you can be there earlier than normal that will enable us to get everyone safely seated before we start. In the meantime, let me lead you in a benediction after which I invite you as always, to say the grace together… Benediction Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. 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.”
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