Worship at Home - Sunday July 12th 2020

Worship at Home – Sunday 12^th July 2020 – Rev^d Dalwyn Attwell

Introduction

For the remaining Sundays of July, our Worship at Home services will focus on Matthew Chapter 13.  Throughout Matthew’s Gospel he includes extended blocks of Jesus’ teaching.  In this chapter we find a selection of Jesus’ parables. 

In verses 13 to 17, Jesus explains why he uses parables:

¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Parables were never intended to be easy to understand.  The point, it seems, is that Jesus taught in a way that allowed some to hear nice stories but invited others to dig deeper and try to work out for themselves the meaning of Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God. 

As we revisit these parables, we remind ourselves that Jesus spoke to the people in a language they could understand about things that they might otherwise have struggled to understand.  For us, in 2020, the challenge is to hear these stories afresh and ask ourselves what they might be saying to us in our Covid world.  As we do so, we are reminded that God promises to speak to each generation in fresh and relevant ways renewing our vision of God’s kingdom and enabling us to speak Good News to our world.

Preparing for Worship (based on Isa 55:10-13)

It rains, it snows, the ground is watered,

seeds swell, plants grow, a harvest is given.

God speaks, people hear, God’s will is done,

and there is joy, peace, singing and clapping

And the word of the Lord will endure forever.

Hymn – Singing the Faith 51 – Great is Thy Faithfulness - https://youtu.be/ErwiBz1QA4o

Prayer (based on Psalm 65 verses 8-13)

Faithful and loving God,
we join our voices with all who offer you praise

we thank you that you have watched over the days of our lives
bringing us to the beginning of this new day
in which we can worship you in song, prayer and our study of your word.

We acknowledge our faults and failings before you
praying that you will test our hearts and refine us like silver.

We come to your temple
asking that you would set us free from the prison of our selfish ways
and release us from the burden of our guilt.

We receive from you the gift of your forgiveness
and renew our determination to live as we have promised
in obedience to your will and your ways.  Amen

Engaging with Scripture

Hymn – Singing the Faith 161 – Speak O Lord - https://youtu.be/ubRlJj8xkds

Reading – Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 – The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop – a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.’

¹⁸ ‘Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ when anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.’

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflection

We are getting used to life being different.  Worshipping at home using printed sheets, YouTube hymns or video-conferencing is very different to gathering in our church buildings alongside our friends and fellow Christians!  One of the differences in using a sheet like this is that we get to ‘keep’ the sermon and several people have commented about appreciating being able to read over the thoughts two or three times and spend time contemplating them! 

When Jesus talked about the seed of God’s word coming to rest on different types of soil, he would have been referring to how people received a spoken word.  I think we all know that when someone speaks there are different types of hearer!  Indeed, many of us would admit that when we listen to someone speaking there will be times when we will hear differently and there are many different things that affect how well we can receive what is spoken! 

I think we can be certain that during the time of lockdown, God has not stopped speaking.  Whether it has been through hymns, prayers and reflections in this kind of sheet or other worship experiences that you have used, or in your own devotions, or in the way you have thought and meditated on things in the news, I am sure that there have been opportunities for us to ‘hear’ God’s word and respond to what God has been doing during this strange time.

As we prepare to move into the next phase of our response to Coronavirus by thinking about how we can be part of the post-lockdown world, it may be a good time for all of us to reflect on what God may have been teaching us during this time.  I feel that part of the challenge of being a Gospel people in the coming months will be for each of us to tell our story of God’s presence and faithfulness, so that each of us can be part of sharing Good News in our communities which are hurting and grieving for all of the loss that has been caused by the pandemic. 

I find myself turning, again, to Barbara Glasson and Clive Marsh’s book – “So What’s the Story?” (2019) where they remind us that testimony is the account “of people’s experiences of God at work, in both bad times and good.”  They remind us that the story does not have to have a happy ending.  Being willing to talk about ways in which we have sensed God’s presence, even in difficult times, is enough to point others to God’s love and faithfulness.  As we tell our stories of ‘God in lockdown’ we join together to bear testimony that “God’s presence makes a difference.”  Glasson and Marsh remind us that whilst our “stories may be more ordinary (than dramatic); they will still be life-shaping.” (p47)

As we patiently wait and carefully prepare for public worship to resume, we can all engage in some personal preparation by thinking over the story we may have to tell of God’s presence with us in this time.  The important thing is for our stories to be honest and open, our society has become fatigued with fake-news and the hollow sound of the spectacular and outrageous.

So how might the parable of the Sower help us to think about our responses to what God has been saying to us in this time?

We might all have to admit that we don’t necessarily hear God well all of the time and so tracing God’s presence may take some time and reflection. 

Sometimes, our hearing is like seed falling on the path, we aren’t quite sure we understand the point of what we are hearing and so we quickly dismiss it as being irrelevant to us.  This type of message, Jesus tells us, can be quickly snatched up by the birds and lost to us.

Are there things that we have heard or read during this time that we pushed to one side because we didn’t instantly understand how they applied to us?  The joy of written words is that we can dig them out again, re-read them and choose to spend time chewing them over to try to get a better understanding of the point that was being made!

There are other times, when things are a bit rocky for us!  It isn’t that we failed to understand what was being communicated, in fact we got it perfectly well enough: the problem was that we knew that if we did anything about it we might find ourselves getting into trouble! We start with the best of intentions, but when people start questioning our commitment to Christ, then we find ourselves tempted to hide our light under a bushel!

Have we been challenged during this time to be a little more open about our faith?  Have we chosen to keep quiet rather than speak up about those things that God has provoked us to say and share?  It’s never too late, opportunities to speak out for Christ will present themselves regularly and sometimes we allow them to pass because it is easier to remain quiet.  Perhaps, we may prepare ourselves for the future by thinking about the ways we might make our faith more obvious and be willing to take a stand for the things that are important to us as Christians: e.g. justice, mercy and peace; love, joy and hope.

Another danger is that we find God’s promises, which often take time to come to fruition, less attractive than the instant gratification that is offered by the world around us.  The advertising industry is excellent at fooling us into believing that we can have anything we want and have it now.  Scott Peck’s book, The Road Less Travelled, written about 40 years ago, has become a classic text of popular psychology; in it he writes about delaying gratification.  Back then he was able to write that “many have a well-developed capacity to delay gratification” describing others (in the minority then) as being part of a “play now, pay later” culture. (p18)  Since Peck wrote, the economic policies of Western societies have sought to entice us all to become “play now, pay later” people.  It is hard to resist!

It would be easy to present the Christian message as the polar opposite by portraying discipleship of Jesus as a miserable “pay now, play later” lifestyle where we suffer as Christians now in the hope of heaven in the sweet by and by!  In actual fact, what Jesus seems to be suggesting is that we need to allow God’s word to shape and fashion us so that we know when is the right time to play and the right time to pay (and indeed the right time to pray!)  The Old Testament writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (Ecc 3:1)

Lockdown has been a sobering experience for the whole of society.  For us, it may have been a time of reassessing our priorities.  Has part of God’s message to us during this time been this kind of challenge.  Have we read or heard things that have asked us to weigh in the scales the things that are important to us and redress the balance.  What things did we take for granted so much that we almost neglected them?  What things did we think we could never survive without only to have lived the past few weeks perfectly well despite not being able to have or do them?  What will our priorities be as we come out of lockdown and seek to live as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the Gospel?

I said at the beginning of this reflection that I am convinced that God has been speaking to each of us during the time of lockdown.  God’s word always brings challenges whether it is the challenge to wrestle for understanding; to take a stand for the values of God’s kingdom or to choose things that please God rather than ourselves.  But God’s word, when we allow it to shape and fashion us also brings fruitfulness. 

I believe that the coming months could be a time of incredible fruitfulness for the Gospel and for God’s church. The history of Christianity teaches us that the Church can only be fruitful if we are willing to be obedient to what the Spirit is teaching us. As we prepare to gather again, I suggest that we can prepare ourselves by being ready to share openly and honestly the ways God has challenged us in these difficult weeks. That may mean that we patiently listen to each other as we wrestle to understand the ways in which God has been at work; we may need to be ready to stand and protect each other as we determine that we are going to speak up for the things that are important to God and against the things that bring harm to our fellow humans and our world; we may need to help and encourage one another as we lay down things that have got in the way of God’s work in our lives. If we allow the seed to settle in our hearts, the promise of God’s word is that it will bear much fruit. Which one of us wouldn’t want to see our own lives and our churches grow and prosper “yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown?” (v23)

Prayers of Intercession

taken from Responding to the Gospel – Methodist Church Prayer Handbook 2019-20

Loving God,

in a world where bad news dominates good, and where people seek contentment that can seem elusive, your gospel offers good news:

   for all, not just some,

   for a lifetime, not just for a day

   for every place not just those favoured in our world.

Give us, we pray,

the faith to be ambassadors of your life-giving gospel wherever we may find ourselves

the strength to be your messengers of hope even when we are confronted by the deepest despair

the grace to demonstrate love in our words and in our actions

the courage to withstand a culture of cynicism and negativity even when it threatens to overwhelm us;

the humility to show the same generous self-giving love to others as Christ in his self-giving has shown us.  Amen

Jennifer Potter, supernumerary minister, Croydon Circuit

The Lord’s Prayer

Hymn – Mission Praise 249 – How Lovely on the Mountains are the Feet of Him - https://youtu.be/QPq1Gf6SNPU

Closing Prayer

The Lord enrich us with his grace, and further us with his heavenly blessing:
the Lord defend us in adversity, and keep us from all evil;
the Lord receive our prayers, and graciously forgive us all our trespasses.

And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
be with us and those we love, now and for evermore.  Amen