Worship at Home - Sunday 10 May 2020 - 75th Anniversary of VE Day Weekend.

WORSHIP AT HOME FOR 10 MAY 2020

The 75th Anniversary of VE Day

This weekend would have been a weekend of public events to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the end of the European part of World War 2.  Alas - we are all locked down and sheltering from a very different threat to that which was faced during the first half of the 1940s.  However, for this week's worship at home I have adapted and used material produced by the Church of England for VE Day 75th Anniversary. (Sections that have been adapted are marked with *)  I pray that it will be a blessing.

The Greeting and Introduction

Heaviness may endure for a night:
But joy comes in the morning.

God has been our refuge and our strength:
A present help in time of trouble.

* In this act of worship we commemorate the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe, when the sounds of war fell silent on this continent.

As we worship we are conscious of our need for God's forgiveness for the sin and desire to dominate others that leads to conflict between people, and war between nations.

And as we remember the many soldiers, sailors, and airmen who gave their lives restraining evil and opposing tyranny, so we also come in thanksgiving for the years of peace that the nations of Europe have enjoyed since the Second World War. 

We worship with joy and anticipation that despite our current circumstances, we can look forward to a day when we will, once again, be glad of each other's company, grateful for shared laughter and love that follows times of sadness and loss.  

Our gratitude for the end of war and conflict is not diluted by the difficulty of these days of global pandemic and we continue to pray that God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven as we say

The Lord's Prayer

Hymn - Praise My Soul the King of Heaven https://youtu.be/mDe0ABw5IHs

Reading Micah 4:1-4

 In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and peoples will stream to it.

 Many nations will come and say,

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths.’
The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
 He will judge between many peoples
    and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
    nor will they train for war any more.
 Everyone will sit under their own vine
    and under their own fig-tree,
and no one will make them afraid,

    for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

Hymn - Lord for the Years - https://youtu.be/MkTrFQLy6js

Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:

 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Reflection

What is victory? 

In the Chambers Dictionary, victory is defined as "success against an opponent in a war or contest."  It comes from the Latin word vincere - which means to defeat, overcome or to win.

In the context of VE Day celebrations, defining what we mean by victory, success, and even the opponent may, at first glance, feel quite simple, especially for those who lived through the days of the second world war, or who have heard first-hand from those who did.  

We may be very familiar with the sights and sounds that are associated with that conflict: pictures of blitzed areas of the country; the sound of Winston Churchill's famous speeches and the music of songs such as "We'll Meet Again" which has been used so powerfully by the Queen in addressing our current global crisis.  And, also those images that we associate with the victory: the king, queen and prime minister on the balcony of Buckingham Palace; the dancing crowds beneath and the street parties.

I wonder, though, if the telling of the story of World War 2 has become so influenced by a limited selection of pictures and words that somehow our understanding and thinking has been restricted.  

To my mind, there is no doubt that the political and ideological regime of Nazism needed to be defeated.  But just as importantly, any triumph over that regime and others like it that have arisen since, needs to be a victory for those things we hold to be right and true as much as it is a defeat of those things that cannot be tolerated.  And in those terms, perhaps we need to remind ourselves that categories of "good" and "evil" are not always easy to define.  We certainly cannot divide them, in ways that can be defined by national identity and "which side you were on" in a conflict as complex as World War 2.  So in our remembering of VE day, we may wish to express regret for some acts done "in our name" that brought unnecessary suffering and death just as much as we want to give thanks for those whose service brought peace and security.  

What's more, we look out on our present-day world where there are still regimes and rulers who use oppression and destruction against their opponents and may wish to ask ourselves if, although the WW2 enemies were defeated, are we still engaged in seeking the victory against injustice, persecution and oppression?  Perhaps, also, we are still engaged in making peace in our own lives, as we seek to resolve personal conflict and make peace within our community of faith.

In other words, we may find it necessary to accept that whilst the war ended and victory was declared, we have not yet fully arrived at the future many imagined they were building as they offered themselves in service to defeat the foes of totalitarianism and inhumanity.

For Christians, this idea of victory being achieved but still being worked for is not really a strange one.  Sometimes, we speak of our Christian hope as something we experience both "now and not yet."  We know that Christ is Alive, but we look at our own lives and around our world and see that the world does not yet live in the fullness of his victory.  Peace, righteousness and justice have not yet been completely established in our world.  

The empty tomb stands as a testimony that Jesus has defeated the foes of death and corruption.  Yet at the same time, we still pray and look for the day when God's kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.  During this Easter season we celebrate and commemorate victory, in our declaration that Jesus has successfully defeated the foes of suffering, pain and death.

Alleluia, the Lord is Risen 

He is Risen indeed, Alleluia

Even in that celebratory declaration, we hear the call to commit ourselves to contining to work to fully establish the things for which Jesus fought.  In looking forward to the full and final victory, we look forward to an utterly transformed world.  Such will be the change from what we experience that we might find it hard to imagine what the world will be like when everything is brought under God's rule and reign.  

Our reading from Micah contains words which we may know very well, Isaiah's version is a mainstay of Advent readings and offers us a vision of this new transformed world and challenges us in our efforts to live and work to establish God's kingdom on earth.

The focal point of this new world, in Micah's vision, is "the mountain of the Lord's temple."  For those hearing Micah speak these words, their vision would have been of a return to the literal place of Jerusalem and the restoration of the temple.  The idea that the forsaken and ruined city would become a focal point for human activity together would have filled them with hope, not only that their conflict was over but that God had once more come to dwell in God's temple; their source of blessing, security and strength.  

Perhaps, it was the same sense of hope that filled the hearts of those whose cities had been ruined by bombs during the conflict of World War 2.  The undamaged St Paul's Cathedral keeping watch over the destruction of the city of London is often presented as an icon of strength and security.  This and other images inspired visions of the possibility of rebuilding that which had been destroyed, and the thought that what is constructed in the place of destruction might be so much better, helps build resilience and hope in the face of tragedy and disaster.  

Today, for some, the idea that town centres and tourist spots will come alive again with people gives hope that our present time of devastation will come to an end.  For many of us, who are church folk, we long to be able to "stream" back to church: indeed we pray that we will be joined by others who have discovered God's goodness in the midst of this present darkness.  Perhaps, that is why, for some, the fact that churches have been closed is a cause of such sorrow.  (Yet we have to recognise that in our current circumstances we would have found it almost impossible to keep our buildings clean and safe for people to come and go and offer their prayers.)    

For Micah, and for us, the restoration of iconic places, especially those that represent our faith, hope and love and the ability to visit them and celebrate all that is best about our human life is, in part symbolic of a wider return to life that is full and abundant.  But unlocking the doors and resuming 'business as usual' feels like it is not enough.  Micah suggests that just returning to the old ways of doing things is not an option, are resumption of activity has to be marked by a renewed determination to strive for those things that are good and right and true.

Micah does not just picture the people returning to the Temple out of habit, but they are returning with a renewed desire to learn God's ways (verse 2).  Just as it was important for people at the end of World War 2, so for us it is important that we do not miss the opportunity to restart life according to our vision of hope rather than just picking up the old ways of injustice and conflict. 

The horror of exile for the Israelites, war for those in the 1940s and disease for us, can give us an opportunity to look through new eyes at the ongoing and ever-present horrors that we become too used to overlooking, such as those of poverty, oppression and injustice.  Maybe we can be reawakened with a fresh desire for a newer, better future.

We might consider how the NHS upon which so many have depended represents this kind of renewal of hope.  Our NHS was a direct result of the desire to build a new and better future after the World War.  It was inspired by the vision that a better life should be possible for all and that the height of good governance is working to make that possible.  So even as we celebrate and give thanks for those working in the NHS, it might remind us that in any struggle, victory is only achieved if we desire a better future for everyone.  

We are reminded also, that the declaration that war is over, means very little unless we are committed to building and maintaining true peace in our world, our community and our relationships. Victory can only ever be partial if we allow old resentments to fester and don't make a real commitment to seeking true and lasting reconciliation.  This time, of pause, then, may be a time when we not only pay attention to how we can successfully combat coronavirus but it may be a time when we give some thought to attitudes and ways of being that are destructive to our relationships and to that inner-peace which God, in Christ offers us.

How many of us, I wonder, in this current time have been stirred to settle old disputes.  Perhaps we have come to see that those old niggles, which were easy to nurture when we saw each other regularly, look rather silly and needless now that we have been separated?  It may be that the idea of trying to make peace was too frightening in the past, but now, after a period sitting under our own tree (v4) we might find ourselves less afraid to make the first move. 

Finally, we may define victory as a triumph over death. The cessation of combat in World War 2, was seen as a welcome end to the carnage and human tragedy of death on such a large scale.  Likewise, our present battle with Coronavirus will only be won when we have brought under control the numbers of lives that are being lost unnecessarily early.  And it is also true that the full victory of Christ will be known when suffering and death are finally defeated.

Paul writes of Christ's empty tomb as a sign of victory of the ultimate enemy: death.  Christ's death reminds us, in Paul's words, "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor 15:50)  Simply being the best that humans can be is not enough to win the ultimate victory over death and the grave.  It is God's power in raising Christ from the dead that ushers in the final and complete victory.  It is only in Christ that the perishable can clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal in immortality.  It is only through Christ that the final triumphant declaration can be made:

Death has been swallowed up in victory!

And so, once more we place our trust in Christ and in him we renew our commitment to live and work until death gives way to victory and God's kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen 

  

Prayers (from a resource by Cafod) 

We pray for peace in our world: 

that all people may live free from violence, in safety and security, 

and with hope for the future. 

Lord, in your mercy… 

We pray for all people who are working to build peace in their communities: 

that they may inspire others by their example and be strengthened to carry on, 

even in the hardest times. 

Lord, in your mercy… 

We pray for all people who have been affected by violence as they rebuild their lives: 

that they may find it in their hearts to move forwards in peace and forgiveness. 

Lord, in your mercy… 

We pray for our local community:

that we may be bearers of peace. 

Lord, in your mercy…

you may wish to add your own prayers

Offering

If we were worshipping in our churches we might, at this point, take up our offering.  This is just a short reminder that there are arrangements in place in all of our churches to allow those who are able to continue to make their offerings.  If you are unsure of how to make your offering then please ask the treasurer of your church who will provide details.  

Prompted by the circuit leadership team, the Church councils of all three of our TSB churches have needed to consider financial matters over the last week or two.  Please pray for our treasurers, stewards and others in the churches and the circuit as they make decisions on how to ensure that our work continues. 

Hymn - Now Thank we all our God https://youtu.be/s99dNPKYtHk


Blessing

God grant to the living, grace; to the departed, rest;
to the Church, the Queen, the Commonwealth,
and all people, peace and concord;
and to us and all his servants, life everlasting;
and the blessing of God almighty,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
come down upon you and remain with you always.

Amen.