28th August 2022 – Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

Posted on August 28, 2022 by St Mary's

The Readings

Hebrews 13.1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ So we can say with confidence,
‘The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?’

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 14.1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Sermon
By the Revd Dr Alan Billings

Surely, everyone in the country was utterly shocked last week when we heard about the shooting of nine year old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool.

You’ll remember the circumstances.

On Monday evening, Olivia’s mother, Cheryl, heard a commotion in the street outside and went to the front door to see what was happening. Her daughter followed her into the hall. In the street, a man, called Joseph Nee, who was out of prison on licence, was being chased by a gunman.

Nee saw Cheryl opening her front door and made a dash for it, pushing his way inside the house. The gunman followed and fired fairly indiscriminately. One bullet struck Olivia’s mother in the wrist, passed through her and went into Olivia’s chest.

The man whom the gunman was trying to assassinate was wounded and, shortly after, two of his friends took him by car to hospital, ignoring Olivia and her mother. The little girl died later from her wounds at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

That was last Monday.

The following day the chief constable of Merseyside, Serena Kennedy, spoke at a press conference and her words captured very well, I think, the shock, disbelief, distress and sheer revulsion everyone was feeling.

She made a direct appeal to the community to tell the police what they knew and do the right thing. And she included in that members of the criminal community – gang members – and those close to them. Someone, knew something – so do the right thing.

If you think about it, this seems rather strange. The chief constable was making a moral appeal to people whose whole way of life revolves all the time around violence. The most likely explanation of what happened is that this is some sort of dispute between rival organised drug gangs. They have no inhibitions when it comes to the use of force, including lethal force, as they seek to defend their markets or settle some score or other.

So why did the chief constable think for one moment that her appeal to the criminal community, and those who mix with them, to do the right thing, would work?

I’ll come back to Liverpool in a moment, but you’ll have noticed that doing the right thing has been the theme of almost all our gospel readings over the last few weeks. We have followed Jesus round the towns and villages of Galilee as he has set out for a believing people what doing the right thing, the morally right thing, means for them in the circumstances of their lives. We have it illustrated again today.

There is first a piece about good manners and not making a fool of yourself – which is not particularly a moral issue. If you are invited to a smart dinner party, says Jesus, don’t take the best seat in case someone more important than you arrives and you get asked to move. Then Jesus says but if you give a dinner, think about those who are struggling, the poor and sick, and invite them. That would be a morally right thing to do.

Now we don’t go in for this kind of social, villagey entertaining in this country, so perhaps the moral equivalent now might be something like this: when you go to the supermarket for the weekly shop, spare a thought for those who are struggling in our society and buy an extra tin of beans for the S6 food bank. Do the right thing.

But when the chief constable told the criminal community of Liverpool to do the right thing, she was raising the moral stakes to an altogether different level. She said that the wanton murder of this little girl ‘crossed all boundaries’. In other words, even among people who would be untouched by normal moral standards, who lie and cheat and thieve, could still be affected by a moral appeal in certain circumstances.

However brutal and brutish their way of life, however self-regarding and selfish they might be, something could penetrate their hearts however hard, something could make them feel, think and even act differently - and that was the death of an innocent child.

In a way, what the chief constable was doing was pointing to what Christianity has always understood about how a heart of stone can be turned into a heart of flesh. The whole basis of our faith lies here: that in the end, what can penetrate our hard shell of selfishness, snap us out of our bad and evil ways, is when we see the endpoint of human sinfulness.

Jesus Christ crucified. The victim of human rage and spite. There we see it. A nine year old girl. Victim of someone’s wanton and reckless behaviour. There we see it. Heart-breaking, innocent suffering.

Is this ultimately then the only way we can be jerked out of our destructive ways of living and do the right thing?

The Prayers
Prepared by David

We come boldly to the throne of grace,
praying to the almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
for mercy and grace.

Father of heaven, whose love profound
a ransom for our souls has found:
We pray for the world, created by your love,
for its nations and governments …
Extend to them your peace, pardoning love, mercy and grace.
Lord, hear us,
Lord graciously hear us.

Almighty Son, incarnate Word,
our Prophet, Priest, Redeemer, Lord:
We pray for the Church, created for your glory,
for its ministry to reflect those works of yours …
Extend to us your salvation, growth, mercy and grace.
Lord, hear us,
Lord graciously hear us.

Eternal Spirit, by whose breath
the soul is raised from sin and death:
We pray for families and individuals, created in your image,
for the lonely, the bereaved, the sick and the dying …
Breathe on them the breath of life
and bring them to your mercy and grace.
Lord, hear us,
Lord graciously hear us.

Thrice holy! Father, Spirit, Son,
Mysterious Godhead, Three in One:
We pray for ourselves,
for your Church, for all whom we remember before you …
Bring us all to bow before your throne in heaven,
to receive life and pardon, mercy and grace for all eternity,
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is used here is copyright (c) The Archbishops' Council 2000.

‘The number one priority’ – 14th August 2022 – Ninth Sunday after Trinity

Posted on August 14, 2022August 14, 2022 by St Mary's

The Readings

Hebrews 11.29-12.2

By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12.49-56

‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

The Sermon

By Joe P

“…some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
When I read today’s Gospel reading again to prepare for this sermon, these words came into my mind. Given that this is a quote from one of the Batman films describing the villainous ‘Joker’, it felt rather blasphemous for me to consider Jesus’s words in the light of this statement.
Until recently I had problems with this reading. After all, I think we want to think of the coming of the Kingdom of God as an intensely joyous event. When we hear Jesus say :
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”
It’s something of an ‘Oooer’ moment – a statement that brings us up sharp. One that made the quotation above spring into my mind.
When a Gospel reading brings us up short, it’s an indication that we need to take a good look at it, as it’s often something that is speaking very personally to us, or it’s saying something that at first glance appears to go against the very nature of the teachings of Jesus.
For me, both of these statements are true; in recent years I’ve experienced the sort of division that Jesus talks about in my own life, and the fact that Jesus is saying that he will cause such division seems to be so contrary to what we might think of Christ’s teachings that we might have a ‘What the heck?’ moment.
In such moments I fall back on the basic elements of our faith. God is our loving father; Jesus is our shepherd who guides and guards all of His sheep, and who will lay down his life for all of us. Jesus also reminds us of the two essential commandments of his teachings; Love God, and love one another.
The words of today’s Gospel, when taken in the context of what we know of our faith, and of Jesus, cannot be taken as the ramblings of a narcissistic madman who is purely trying to cause trouble. There is something more.
Jesus is not out to sow discord for the sake of it.
He is simply pointing out to us what will happen when we start truly taking on His teachings, becoming more Christ-like in our own lives, and allowing Jesus’s teachings and our faith in God to shape our behaviour, character and very identity.
I call myself a ‘practising Christian’ – but occasionally – and only semi-jokingly – add the words ‘-and one day I might get it right’. And the reason I say this is that there are lots of influences in my life that distract me away from truly following Christ in everything I do. In recent weeks we’ve seen glimpses of these distractions in other Gospel readings.
Remember the visit that Jesus made to Martha and Mary? Martha was run off her feet, distracted by the business of running the house and preparing food. In other words, she was being a ‘good woman’ according to her cultural norms. Mary, on the other hand, took time out to seek God’s word by listening and spending time with Jesus – something that was rather unusual.
And the man who asked Jesus to give him time to bury his dead father? Jesus’s response – let the dead bury their own – sounds heartless until we remember that it was most likely the ‘second burial’ that took place a year after the death of the parent. In other words, Jesus is encouraging the man to make a decision between following custom or following Him.
In each case, it’s easy to see that the people making the decision to not dedicate their time at that moment to Jesus are not bad people. They’re normal folks, obeying the cultural norms and ‘family rules’ of their day. It’s also easy to imagine the ructions that would be caused within the family of the young man, for example, had he chosen not to complete the requirements of the burial rituals and had chosen to drop everything and follow Christ.
Following Jesus would indeed, for him, have placed him at odds with his family. The division of which Jesus speaks in this Gospel reading would be present.
From our perspective, we can look at this and say ‘Well, that’s just their culture getting in he way; I follow Jesus whole-heartedly.’
But do we? I know I don’t; I might justify myself by saying ‘I do the best I can.’, but that’s a lie to make me feel better. I actually follow Jesus as far as I can without it hurting my day to day life TOO much, and doing our best to abide by the commandments – sort of following the letter, but not the spirit.
I think we’re all rather like this, and I believe that this is what Jesus is warning us about in the Gospel. We have many loves in our lives, and all of them influence our behaviour and build our character and personality in various ways. We prioritise them; typically a spouse ranks higher than someone you meet once a month for a game of darts in the pub, for example. If we are to wholeheartedly follow the teachings of Jesus, then it follows that the teachings of Jesus should have the most influence on our lives. This means that the priority we give to His teachings, and hence our love for him, should be higher than the priority we give to the other influences in our lives.
And this could lead to those divisions between family members, where we find that the priorities and beliefs of our family and friends may be perfectly legal and within cultural and societal norms – but that may conflict in some way with the teachings of Christ.
Can we resolve this? The capability of human beings to love is a rather wonderful gift. We can love many people and things in our lives, and – either consciously or unconsciously – we priorities that which we love and that which matters to us. Those priorities reflect on our character.
To follow Christ – with the risk of division and dispute in our lives as part of the cost - we’re being asked to prioritise Christ’s teachings and our love for him over all our other relationships. It’s not easy.
Perhaps we can start – and make a great amount of progress towards resolving this problem – by regarding our love for Christ and his teachings as being the all-encompassing guidance within which all our other relationships can rest, and hence develop and mature. Within our love for Christ, we can bring the Gospel to those around us, and bring them in to that same relationship that we have with Jesus.
And it is hard; I know I haven’t managed it yet – but I’ll keep at it.

The Prayers

Prepared by Catherine

Let us pray for our world

In these times of extreme heat and drought, let us remember

farmers struggling to care for crops and livestock

firefighters tackling an increasing number of blazes

all those working to maintain the infrastructure of transport and utility networks

and other parts of the world suffering even worse consequences of the climate crisis.

Let us pray too for places and people stricken by war and violence

for the people of Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and many other places.

We remember, too, families still affected following the partition of India and Pakistan 75 years ago.

And we pray especially this week for the author, Salman Rushdie following the violent attack on his life on Friday.

We ask for peace and reconciliation,

An end to hatred,

And the grace and patience to manage differences and disagreements without bloodshed.

Hear us, Lord of life:

Heal us, and give us rest.

Let us pray for our church in this complicated and troubled world.

for our clergy and laity,

internationally, nationally and locally,

that we might put Christ first

ahead of our own differences and disagreements,

And act as a light to all nations.

Hear us, Lord of life:

Heal us, and give us rest.

Let us pray for our community.

In these times of economic uncertainty and rising energy and food bills,

let us remember

the work of food banks, homeless charities and advice centres

all those who are worrying about feeding themselves and their families,

or keeping their homes warm this coming winter.

Let us pray for our government and all Members of Parliament,

that all who represent us may do so with wisdom

and always with the interests of the people at heart.

Hear us, Lord of life:

Heal us, and give us rest.

Let us pray for all who are suffering.

In these times of stretched health resources,

let us remember

all who work in healthcare, in hospitals, GP surgeries, clinics and in the community

all who are waiting for diagnosis, surgery or other treatment

and for all who care for someone who has an illness or disability.

In a few moments silence, we name in our hearts anyone known to us….

Hear us, Lord of life:

Heal us, and give us rest.

Let us pray for those who have died

And those who are mourning the loss of a loved one.

In a few moments silence, we name in our hearts anyone particularly known to us who has died or is grieving…

Hear us, Lord of life:

Heal us, and give us rest.

Merciful Father,

Accept these prayers

for the sake of your Son,

our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is used here is copyright (c) The Archbishops' Council 2000

‘Where your treasure is’ – 7th August 2022 – Eighth Sunday after Trinity

Posted on August 7, 2022August 6, 2022 by St Mary's

The Readings

Hebrews 11.1-3, 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, ‘as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.’

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12.32-40
Jesus said: ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

Scripture Quotations are taken from: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The Sermon

By Canon Dr Alan Billings

‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’

Words of Jesus from today’s gospel. ‘For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’

Your treasure is the most valuable thing you possess. It could be something material – from a pair of trainers to a porsche. It could be money – though given the way inflation is currently going its getting harder and harder to hang on to that – in real terms.

In the gospels Jesus sometimes comes across people for whom possessions and money are their treasure and the place where their heart is. On one occasion he meets a man who wants to know how he is to set himself right with God and so inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to obey the commandments and when the man says he has done, Jesus tells him to go and sell all he has and give it to the poor and then he will find treasure in heaven. The man goes away sorrowing because he is very wealthy. His treasure is his money. That’s where his heart is and Jesus shows that to him through this challenge: go and sell your possessions, they are getting in the way. That should not be where your heart is.

But Jesus also comes across another sort of person for whom their treasure is not money but another person.

You will recall that time when one of the important men in a local synagogue , sought out Jesus and fell down at his feet begging him to come and help his twelve year old daughter, who is dying. it’s such a touching moment. Here is this important man in his community who must act at all times with the dignity his position demanded. Yet he will do anything for his daughter, even making himself look pathetic, kneeling before a wandering rabbi, in public. He is not a man who begs anyone for anything. But here he is, begging, pleading with Jesus. Because his treasure, the place where his heart is, is not his status, not his position, not his money. His treasure is his little daughter; she has his heart.

I thought of that this week as I read and heard about Archie Battersbee. Archie, you will recall, was an energetic young twelve year old, who was found unconscious by his mother earlier this year. Since then he has been in a coma. The doctors said he could never recover and he was in a persistent vegetative state. They wanted to stop the treatment, that was keeping him alive, though lacking consciousness. His parents applied to the courts to stop the doctors ending his life and to require the hospital to continue his care. But they failed at every successive court hearing. And there have been many.

Whatever your view on the ethics of this, there could be no doubt about where Archie’s mother saw her treasure. Her boy was her treasure. And this was where her heart was. And that is why this has all been so sad and painful and difficult.

Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.

George Elliott, the Victorian novelist, has a lovely story which I always think takes these words of Jesus and shows what they can mean in the circumstances of an ordinary life.

She tells the story of a working man, Silas Marner. He’s a weaver, living alone in the countryside, making cloth on a little loom in his cottage. This is the early nineteenth century when we all worked from home.

Silas speaks to few people and is withdrawn and carries a grudge. He was once falsely accused of theft. He makes money but has nothing and no one to spend it on, so he hoards it – pieces of gold - under the floorboards, taking it out once a week to count it. You have a vivid picture of the pile of gold shining in the glow of the fire. This is his treasure and this is where his shrivelled and shrivelling heart is centred. But he is robbed, and loses it all and sinks deeper into despair.

Then one night, a destitute woman, clutching her small child, trying to get to the workhouse, collapses and dies near Silas Marner’s cottage,. The child, who has very fair hair, wanders into the weaver’s cottage, curls up and goes to sleep on the floor – the same floor beneath which he once had his stash of gold. When Silas wakes he sees the child, sees her golden hair, shining like the gold coins he once hoarded, and he is deeply moved.

He’s allowed to keep the child – no one else wants her – and he brings her up. She transforms his life, turning a self-centred, self-pitying miser into a loving and generous adoptive parent.

His treasure shifted from those gold coins to that golden haired child. And where his treasure was, there was his heart. But a new heart, a loving heart, not a shrivelled heart.

So the words of Jesus come as a challenge – to pause this morning and be clear to ourselves about where our treasure is. What do we value above all things? For where our treasure is, so is our heart and its our heart that God wants to be in the right place.

The Prayers

Prepared by Joe

We pray for the Church of Christ, for Bishop Pete and Bishop Sophie, our Archbishops Justin and Stephen, all here who lead us in worship and prayer, and all those whose time and talents are given to St Mary’s, St John’s and St Mark’s.

As we look back and reflect on the Lambeth Conference, we pray that all attendees and the communities that they represent can find true compassion in their hearts for all of your children, irrespective of sexuality and gender.