To download a copy of the order of service, please click here:

22 09 25 The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity Eucharist

To watch this week's service on YouTube, please click here:

https://tiny.cc/walkleystmary-youtube

 

 

The Readings

 

Luke 16.19-31

Jesus said, ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

 

Scripture Quotations are 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 Rev Canon Dr Alan Billings

 

Sometimes people treat the Bible as if it were a textbook of morality. As if the answer to every moral question is there, somewhere, if only we could find it. As if it told us in detail how to live our lives now. The key words here are ‘in detail’.

But how we live in detail is something we have to work out for ourselves. We have to do that because the world in which we live changes all the time. New situations arise, situations that have never occurred before in history, let alone in biblical times.

Take the world of modern technology. How do we balance the freedom the internet brings to communicate with our family and friends across the world with the need to prevent our children gaining access to harmful material. These detailed moral questions can’t be solved by looking up verses of scripture.

So if the Bible is not a highway code of morality, what role does it play?

The reason we read passages from the scriptures in our services is because what we hear and read, influences how we live when we go out from this place.

They don’t tell us things in detail, but they do shape the way we look at the world around us, the way we react and respond, what we decide to do or not do, in the detailed circumstances of our own individual and different lives.

Take today’s gospel, the story of the rich man and the poor man, Lazarus. Imagine the first time Jesus told that story - in a society where it was strongly believed that the rich deserved their wealth because they had lived well and the poor deserved their poverty.

This story was like a kick in the teeth. The rich man ends up in hell and the poor man in heaven. We are not told why the rich man is rewarded in this way, or the poor man. But the story provokes us into thinking about why that might be so.

It doesn’t say the rich man was a bad man or the poor man a good man. But it does suggest that the rich man chooses not to notice the plight of Lazarus, and that determines his fate hereafter.

And it does suggest that Lazarus can’t help being poor because he is physically run down. He is so weak he can’t stop the dogs licking his sores; this is why he can’t earn a living.

But each day, the rich man walks past Lazarus and does nothing, even though he eats sumptuously every day.

If the Bible were a textbook, this story would only work if our society and our situation now was exactly the same as then. But it isn’t. We live in a society where there is a welfare state and an NHS. But it makes us think, just as much as it made the first hearers think.

Could it be that we are rich when we compare ourselves with some others? Do we choose to walk by? Who is our Lazarus?

The stories Jesus tells haunt our imaginations as Christians and make us think about our lives now. They don’t tell us in detail what to do. But as they work on us, they influence us.

This was a point the Archbishop of Canterbury made in the sermon he gave at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in Westminster Abbey. Throughout her reign she had allowed the Christian gospel to influence how she lived. She had worked out in her particular circumstances what a life of service to others should look like if you are called to do the job she did. And the Archbishop rather boldly and very pointedly, challenged many world leaders who were present at the funeral to do the same. He quoted words of Jesus:

You know that the rulers of the gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve...

The words don’t tell the rulers in detail what to do, but they would bring them up sharply and make them think about how they were living out their form of leadership.

The story of the rich man and Lazarus doesn’t tell us in detail what to do. But it ought to make us stop and think about how we should respond to the Lazarus of our day. How we respond as a man or woman in the street or as someone who rules. A government, perhaps.

The Prayers
Prepared by Catherine

We pray for our church:
That we may live out the hope of new life in Jesus Christ by our words and actions.
We pray for Sheffield diocese and its upcoming Development Day
For the churches at local level in Walkley and our partner churches of St. John’s and St. Mark’s
For the work of the Forest Church and Garden Church.
We pray for our church.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

We pray for our world:
For leaders and governments.
That their words and actions may show care for people and planet.
For all those caught up in war, disaster, or famine
For the people of Pakistan, Syria, Ukraine, Russia, Yemen.
We pray for our world
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

We pray for our community:
For the staff and children in our local schools.
For children whose needs cannot be met in mainstream education,
for their families, and all those working to find them the right school place.
For students starting or returning to University and College
especially those living away from home for the first time,
And those who have come here from abroad to study.
For the shops and businesses in Walkley
And for all who use our Community Hall during the week.
We pray for our community
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

 

We pray for those in need:
For the unwell, the lonely, the sad, the bereaved.
For all who are worried about heating their homes
or feeding their families.
For the work of the Archer Project and the S6 Foodbank.
For any known personally to us.
We pray for those in need.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

We remember those who have died and all who mourn:
Continuing to remember our late Queen Elizabeth, and her family.
Thinking of those known personally to us who have died or who mourn a loved one.
We remember those who have died
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer

Merciful Father
Accept these prayers
For the sake of your Son,
Our Saviour,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.

To download a copy of the order of service, please click here:

22 09 18 HlM QE2 Memorial Eucharist

To watch this week's service on YouTube, please click here:

https://tiny.cc/walkleystmary-youtube

(Photo: Twitter/@RoyalFamily)

 

The Readings

 

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 Rev Canon Dr Matthew Rhodes

 

Eve of the Queen’s funeral

It has been an extraordinary ten days. There have been so many touching moments. Even those who would not call themselves great supporters of the monarchy have been affected by the things we have witnessed. So many tributes of love and affection. So many anecdotes. Some of them amusing. Some very moving.

It has been incredible to recognise how many aspects of life that Her Majesty touched. I was listening to a farming programme early one morning. And heard about how, after the foot and mouth disaster, Her Majesty gave cattle from her own herds to farmers who had lost animals. It’s been extraordinary too to hear how wide was the affection for Queen Elizabeth. This week I had to go to Cyprus for a charity of which I am a trustee. Even there, there were commemorative services for the Queen and I attended a concert by a Danish choir. In Denmark they had been following events in this country and dedicated their performance to the Queen’s memory.

This week we have not only learned a lot about the Queen, we have also learned something about death and loss. The preparation that has gone into this time is staggering. We seem to have a particular knack for this sort of thing and I’m sure the Queen’s funeral tomorrow will be no exception. And I think all events have really helped us to deal with the surprisingly powerful emotions that some of us have experienced during this time. And although the Queen was probably unaware of some of the details of these arrangements, I expect she knew quite a bit about what was planned. Even in her dying she seems to have continued to serve the needs of her people. To show care for them in a time of loss and change.

Although the rest of us are unlikely to lie in state or receive gun salutes, the past ten days perhaps remind us that deaths should be properly marked. They are an important part of life and when we are bereaved we need the time and rituals that will help us come to terms with our loss. We need to be able to reminisce. To express our emotions. To confront our own mortality. We are sometimes too quick to sanitise death. To move on from it. The great mystery that is death deserves respect.

As I have been thinking about today, I’ve been rereading a sermon given by Henry Scott Holland. It was preached at St Paul’s Cathedral shortly before the funeral of King Edward VII in 1910. You may be familiar with a well known passage from it which begins ‘Death is nothing at all’. It is sometimes read at funerals. But I’ll come back to that.

Edward VII was the son of Queen Victoria. Like our own King Charles, he was Prince of Wales for a very long time and that wasn’t always an easy role to fulfil. But in his relatively short reign, King Edward became a very popular king. His death was sudden and for most of the population, unexpected. It happened at a time of political turmoil. There was a crisis between the House of Lords and the House of Commons in the aftermath of Lloyd George’s People’s Budget of 1909. But all this was halted by the sense of national unity which followed the King’s death. And it was in this context that Scott Holland preached his sermon entitled The King of Terrors.

In his sermon, Scott Holland was anxious to help people with their feelings around the death of the late King and around death in general. He acknowledged the contradictory emotions around the loss of someone we care about. The shock. The feeling of emptiness. The finality. The sense of sadness. The scriptures give vigorous expression to these emotions and they are not to be denied or brushed over. To be fully human is to dwell in our Good Fridays sometimes. To really express our sense of bereavement. God is with us in those moments. He too bore the loss of his son and shares in our grief. And we need to express it thoroughly. This part of Scott Holland’s sermon tends to be ignored.

But then Scott Holland recognises something else. As a Victorian and then an Edwardian he was used to being much closer to death than we are. He was used to being around those who had died. And he sometimes detected in the faces of the departed the suggestion that in dying they had discovered the secret. That somehow they knew it all. What lay beyond. Some seemed to have a faint smile playing on their lips. And it was from these observations that Scott Holland wrote his famous passage, ‘Death is nothing at all.’

Death is nothing at all. It does not count.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
Nothing has happened.
Everything remains exactly as it was.
I am I, and you are you,
and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged.
Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.
Call me by the old familiar name.
Speak of me in the easy way which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same as it ever was.
There is absolute and unbroken continuity.
What is this death but a negligible accident?
Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight?
I am but waiting for you, for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just round the corner.
All is well.

On their own these words can sound trite. Scott Holland went to recognise that that sense of continuity that they speak of wavers. We fluctuate in grief between hope and despair. But the hope is real. And he suggests that it is a reasonable act of faith to stand by it and assert its validity even in the darkest times. As he put it, ‘Though we may return to the twilight of the valleys, yet we will ever recall the moment when we stood upon the sunlit heights and saw the far horizon.’

This is the vision glimpsed in our readings today. That though grief is real, God’s love, compassion and mercy never come to an end. It is the will of the Father that all who believe in the Son may have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.
It is trusting in this greater reality, this hope, that we commend her Majesty to God on the eve of her funeral. Having acknowledged our grief, our sense of loss we can discover again that peace which passes all understanding. We can renew our trust in God, who in life and in death is always with us. Her Majesty the Queen shared in that deep trust herself. She knew where here ultimate home lay. And I’m sure she would want us to reaffirm our trust in God’s promises. To rediscover that resurrection hope and to look forward to the new things that God seeks to make real in our world. Today we give thanks for Her Majesty’s example of faithfulness and we pray that she may rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.

 

 

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.

We pray for His Majesty the King and his family as they prepare for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth 2nd tomorrow. We pray for all those who are involved in that service, and for those who have stood vigil and paid their respects in the last week.

We pray for the nation and the Commonwealth.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We are told in our Gospel reading; “‘Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” Queen Elizabeth was trusted with much, and was a good and faithful servant to you, Lord, and to this country. May we also show that we can be trusted in things in our lives, both big and small.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

We pray for the people of Ukraine that the war may soon come to an end and a just and lasting peace can be created between Russia and its neighbours. We pray for all those affected by conflicts and international tension; civilians, soldiers, those trapped in war-zones and those who are refugees.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

We pray for our community here in Walkley, and for the city of Sheffield, and for our neighbours and friends. At this time of uncertainty in the governance of this country, of increasing inflation and cost of living, of energy price rises, we pray that all that can be done for those in need is being done, and we pray that you will show us what WE can do to help others less fortunate than ourselves.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

We pray for the aged and infirm, and those sick in mind, body or spirit, and those who life has proven difficult for. We pray that you strengthen them and bring them the healing and peace that belong to Christ’s kingdom. In a few moments of silence, we bring to mind those we know who need your healing presence.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

We pray for those currently close to death, and those accompanying them on this final part of their Earthly journey. We pray for those who have died, recently and in the past, and those who mourn.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

Finally, Lord, we silently bring before you those special to us, and also those issues and concerns that we have in our own lives.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

 

Rejoicing in the communion of Mary, Mark, John and of all the Saints, let us commend ourselves, and one another, and all our life, to God.

 

Merciful Father:

accept these prayers

for the sake of your Son,

our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

To watch this week's service on YouTube, please click here:

https://tiny.cc/walkleystmary-youtube

To download a copy of this week's order of service, please click here:

22 09 11 The Blessed Virgin Mary Eucharist v2

The Readings

2 Corinthians 4.16-5.4

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Luke 1.39-47

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
Mary’s Song of Praise
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour'

The Sermon

By Canon Dr Alan Billings

 

Our service today has more than one focus and as a result it produces in us a mix of emotions.

In the normal course of things, this would simply have been our patronal festival. We would be celebrating and giving thanks for the one to whom our church is dedicated – Mary, the mother of our Lord. But this week our Queen died and we have a new King. So celebration, but sorrow too. Let’s try and bring these emotions and themes together – reflecting on two lives and two mothers, starting with Blessed Mary.

The gospel reading this morning speaks of a young woman who is pregnant, Mary. She has just been told by the angel that she will give birth to the Son of God. She now goes to visit her much older cousin, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant.

So the life of Jesus Christ begins and ends with this young woman, Mary, his mother.

And Mary learns very early on what it means to be a mother, a parent – which is that the more you love your children, the more vulnerable you make yourself if they come to grief.

Shortly after Jesus is born, she goes with her husband, Joseph, from Nazareth to Jerusalem to present the young child to God in the Temple. They are met there by an old man, of deep faith, Simeon. He tells Mary that her son will grow up to have a significant impact on many people’s lives.

I think Mary would have heard those words with some nervousness, but mainly with pride. What mother wouldn’t be pleased to hear that her son’s life would be meaningful and worthwhile?

But then Simeon says: But a sword will pierce your own heart.

A sword will pierce your own heart. Why? Because the more she loves him, the more she can be hurt by him and what happens to him. His life will bring her joy, yes, but grief also. This is the vocation of parenthood, of motherhood. Vulnerability.

We can only guess at what those moments of anxiety might have been as the child grows up. Though we are given a glimpse of one such. We are told, you’ll remember, that Mary and Joseph return home from a visit to Jerusalem on one occasion and realise that Jesus, now twelve years old, is not with their friends and neighbours. I expect many of us have experienced one of those heart stopping moments when we have looked around for our child – on the beach, at the shops - and they seem not to be there.

But the final piercing of Mary’s heart will come at the end of her son’s life. He will die before her. And she will have to stand helplessly by as he is put to death publicly and in the most cruel and barbaric way.

The more you love, the more you can be hurt. A sword will pierce your own heart.

I have found those words popping into my head several times over the last couple of days as we have all been coming to terms with the death of Queen Elizabeth, and reflecting on her life.

For years we have been sharing her life – not only as head of state but also as a wife and mother – because she was the first monarch of the television age and the age of the mobile phone... and that has brought her into our homes in a way that never happened before.

We have watched how she has borne the ups and downs of family life - as we all do – though she has had to do all that publicly. And some of the griefs and sorrows have been particularly painful. A sword will pierce your own heart.

We have also realised something else in these last few days. When she dedicated her life – ‘whether it be long or short’ as she said - to one of service to us, we became, as it were, her extended family.

So that what happened to us, her extended family, also affected her deeply – whether that was the troubles in Northern Ireland, the Grenfell Tower fire or the Manchester arena bombing. A sword will pierce your own heart.

And she made her concern clear by visiting people and places in times of tragedy or broadcasting to us in times of anxiety, offering reassurance.

As Anglicans, we know that each Sunday our late Queen, the Supreme Governor of our Church, was in church listening to the same passages of scripture as us, drinking from the same spiritual well as us. What shapes our character as Anglicans, as members of a parish church, also shaped the way she understood her role as Queen – to look away from ourselves, to be of service to others.

But these roles – parent, mother, monarch, church member – require an emotional investment. And that make us vulnerable to that sword that pierces the heart.

This is what we saw in our queen and this is what we remember and thank her for today.

The Prayers

Prepared by David.

As we pray to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we say with Mary:
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

Your prophet of old foretold a day when a virgin would conceive
and bear a son who would be called God-with-us.
Help us to look forward to your deliverance
and to seek the fullness of your kingdom.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

Your angel declared to Mary that she was to be
the mother of the Saviour.
Help us all to be open to your word
and obedient to your will.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

Mary rejoiced with her cousin Elizabeth and sang your praise,
‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.’
Help us to live joyful lives that sing your praise.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

Mary bore a son of David’s line,
a king whose reign would never end.
Bless all the nations of the world with Christ’s gift of peace.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

The child Jesus grew in wisdom and stature
in the home of Mary and Joseph.
Strengthen our homes and families,
and keep under your protection all those whom we love.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

The apostle John saw a vision of a woman in heaven,
robed with the sun.
Bring us with Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Shaun and all those who have died in the faith of Christ
to share the joy of heaven with Mary and all the saints.
We give you thanks:
for her love of family and her gift of friendship;
for her devotion to this nation and the nations of the Commonwealth;
for her grace, dignity and courtesy;
and for her generosity and love of life.
We praise you for:
the courage that she showed in testing times;
the depth and of her Christian faith;
and the witness she bore to it in word and deed.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

At the foot of the cross of Christ stood his mother,
and from the cross she received his lifeless body in her arms.
Give comfort and healing to all who suffer
and all who watch the suffering of those they love.
We pray for our Sovereign Lord the King
and all the Royal Family,
that you might reassure them of your continuing love
and lift them from the depths of grief
into the peace and light of your presence.
Lord, have mercy on those who fear you.
Holy is your name.

Almighty and everlasting God,
your handmaid Mary magnified your name
and rejoiced in your saving love:
trusting in that same love,
we ask all these our prayers
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

To download a copy of the order of service, please click here:

22 09 04 The Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Eucharist

To watch this week's service on YouTube, please click here:

https://tiny.cc/walkleystmary-youtube

Image © The Rev’d Sarah West | visiolectio.com

The Readings

 

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 Beth

Out of the impossible, the possibility of new life begins.

Jeremiah is sometimes, unfairly l think, known as the moaning prophet, the prophet who weeps and mourns. The prophet who see disaster coming, warns of the impending doom, and then is there to remind people just exactly why it happened, when it did, and who was to blame. Definitely a cup half empty kind of a guy.

Certainly the book of Jeremiah, as we find it in our bibles, does contain all that. It begins before the great exile into Babylon with warnings of impending doom. But then the book of prophecy travels with those into exile and explores how faith continues in a foreign land. And then moves, to look to a future, when the people of God are restored.

The book of Jeremiah that we have inherited is one of the more contested books of the bible. Thousands of hours have been given to the study of Jeremiah, and thousands of pages of commentaries set out the case for who this eccentric prophet was. When did he live, where did he live, can we actually know who he was prophesying to?

Now the trouble with the book of Jeremiah, as we find it in our bibles, is that it seems to be a collection of manuscripts from different ages and places. For all the study, and there has been a huge amount, for all this study, theologians and biblical scholars have not come to any clear agreement about who Jeremiah was because, it seems like either Jeremiah was not actually one individual, or he had the ability to travel across time, or wrote texts in such a weird and disparate way so as to make it look as though they were not written in remotely the same location or time frame.

In the place of these disagreement, scholars have moved on from asking, who was this one person Jeremiah, and where and when did he live? To instead asking the question, what is this book of prophecy telling us? Why have these seemingly disparate texts been brought together to form one book under the name Jeremiah?

Perhaps, there is something about Jeremiah, something perhaps in the words of his calling, and the words of prophecy God gives him, that meant later manuscripts, which followed the same were gathered and edited together under the book of his name.

 

Almost as though the later history of God’s work, during the exile and beyond, was understood through the words of the original Jeremiah, who had seen and told, and prophesied what would happen all those years earlier. And so, scholars have moved to read the book of Jeremiah, not as a story of that one single prophet, but as a story of God’s word to his people through exile and beyond.

And so, we need to turn to the beginning. The book of Jeremiah begins with a dramatic telling of Jeremiah’s calling to be a prophet. In chapter 1 it says
9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’

This is Jeremiah’s call. If you want to sum up the prophetic ministry that God gave Jeremiah this is it. This is the word given to Jeremiah as a child, and this is the word repeated throughout his ministry. You can see these words repeated throughout the book and as we just heard they appeared in our reading today.

Jeremiah’s call at the start of the book is constructed from six infinitives, set out in pairs:
to pluck up (lintosh) and to pull down (lintots),
to destroy (leha’abid) and to overthrow (laharos),
to build (libnot) and to plant (lintoa).

Four of these six Hebrew words, the ones translated as, to pluck up and pull down to build and to plant sound similar in Hebrew. They create a kind of rhyme, a wordplay, a memorable phrase. These four verbs are then repeated throughout the book of Jeremiah, in different contexts and times, to reinforce and remind the people of God about the Jeremiah prophecy; to pluck up and pull down to build and to plant.

Let’s be clear, the image here is not one of digging up a plant and moving it to a different or better position. This is not about transplantation, if it had been about transplantation different Hebrew words would have been used.

It is the image of something ending and something else beginning. Interestingly, although this prophecy is repeated throughout the book, only repetitions of pluck up and pull down, build and plant are included. The verbs ‘to destroy and to overthrow’ are not echoed throughout the book in the same way. Leading some scholars to believe that later editors may have added these verbs later on. Perhaps they saw the need to reinforce that something was definitely ending and not just moving or being transplanted elsewhere.

Whether they did this, or why they did this, we cannot know. Perhaps they felt the extra words were needed as an antidote to our human compulsion to move on too quickly to the building and planting phase. The temptation to focus our attention and energy there, whereas this word of prophecy, properly understood, was always as much about endings as it was about beginnings. It was never about struggling to hold on to what was and rebuild as soon as possible. Rather it spoke of a God who works newness out of nothingness.

Out of the impossible, the possibility of new life begins.
In our reading this morning the image of breaking down and remaking is depicted in the image of the potter at his wheel, taking the spoiled vessel, breaking it down and reworking it into a new vessel.

Some of the language in our reading can seem troubling. The voice of God appears to state that God is the primary mover, actively bringing judgement and destruction, or turning back and instead choosing to bring blessing. To our ears it can sound like a whimsical God, unconcerned with the plight of humans, a mythical God turning his power to annihilate without care. Do the sins of the people deserve this treatment? And is this judgement the cause on the oncoming doom.

Throughout the book of Jeremiah this phrase, to pluck up and pull down, to build and to plant, is repeated. It is returned to and grappled with and understood in different ways in different places and with different people.
These repetitions act as reminders within the text, as the people try to make sense of what is happening and where God is in that.

We can see this phrase repeated chapter 12, then in chapter 17, in chapter 18 (which we just read) then in chapter 24, 31, 42 and finally in chapter 45. In most cases these sections offer images and descriptions of what is ending, and what possibility lies open for the future. What is also clear in each of these passages, is that in all that is ending, and in all that may come to pass, God is present.

Present in difficulty, present whether they had brought the difficulty on themselves or not, present even when their wrongdoing had left them in the wrong place, present in exile, present in hoping and longing for something different, present in restoration and future growth.

Out of the impossible, the possibility of new life begins.

How hard it was for them to hear that. And so they reminded themselves what Jeremiah had said. That God would pluck up and pull down, and that God would build and plant. It was not one or the other, it was both.

How hard it is for us to hear that.
Much has changed in our culture over the last 40 years. Various Christian commentators have talked about our post Christian, post Christendom culture being akin to the experience of exile.

Across our country we see communities divided, our politics are in turmoil, hate crimes figures are on the increase, and climate change threatens to have devastating effects on the world in coming years.

On top of this perhaps things in our own lives, with illness and unexpected events, have also left us feeling out of control.

What would Jeremiah want to say to us?
Out of the impossible the possibility of new life begins

How hard it is for us to hear that.
And yet we hear this same pattern again and again not just in Jeremiah but across the stories of our faith.
Out of chaos God creates
After flood God renews
In slavery God builds a nation
In exile God forms new communities of faith
Jesus jokes that we must die and be born again, and it is a joke, because even if it was possible, no adult would choose to make themselves that powerless, taking on the nature of a fetus, putting themselves in the control of others.
New life comes from God, and God alone. We cannot make new life happen ourselves. Only God brings life from death and creates out of nothing.

Our faith has always been as much about endings as beginnings. Christ calls us to remember him in the breaking of bread, his body broken. And as we gather around Christ’s table today, we gather around the one who shows us that however impossible it seems, this is the place where new life begins.

 

The Prayers
Prepared by Veronica

In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the Father.

Lord our God, we pray for all people in need at this time, remembering especially the people of Ukraine still under attack, and those in Pakistan suffering horrendous floods. We pray that international organisations and national governments will do everything possible to support and help them at this time. We have also become aware that many of our fellow citizens are suffering great hardship at this time, and ask that their basic needs will be met by all those helping to run Foodbanks and Clothing banks, as well as help from our government.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray for the Church worldwide that all Christians may work together to show your love and care for all your people. We give you thanks for our partnership with St John’s and St Mark’s, and for all who assist with our worship and work to maintain St Mary’s as a living active church, serving our community.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray for our City and community of Walkley, giving you thanks for the resumption of the annual Horticultural Show held in our hall yesterday, bringing many people together to show off their produce and other skills. We pray for the work of Regather who will be distributing the fruit, vegetables and other food to those in need.

Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

We pray for all who are ill at this time or drawing close to death, also for those caring for them, whether family members, care workers or hospital staff. We give you thanks for their devoted work. In a moment of silence we remember those known to us in special need of our prayers and entrust them to your comfort and healing grace…………….

Lord in your mercy
Hear our prayer.

We commend to your tender mercy all who have died, those we have known and loved many years ago, and those who have died recently. We pray for all who mourn the loss of family and other close friends, and in silence remember those we have lost and continue to miss………..

Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Rejoicing in the fellowship of Mary, John, Mark and all your saints, we dedicate ourselves to your service and commend ourselves to your unfailing love.

Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers                                                                                                          
for the sake of your Son,                                                                                                                                                            
our Saviour Jesus Christ.                                                                                                                                              
Amen.