Worship at Home - Sunday August 23rd 2020

 INTRODUCTION

For the past two weeks the focus of our worship has been on what it means to be church.  We have looked at the Church as 

* The Community that has something to say about Jesus

* The Community of Blessing

In this week's service we return to the Sermon on the Mount to look at the church as a Community of Care.

CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Words of John Wesley in Sermon 34 The Catholic Spirit)

We may not see eye to eye on every detail,
and perhaps we never will,
but we we renew our commitment to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength
and to love one another,
so, "Give me your hand" -
"Give me your hand."

Hymn - StF 69 Ye Holy Angels Bright - https://youtu.be/NAwTDwbVM3o

 

Prayer of Adoration 

Blessed are you God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Blessed Holy Trinity, Three in One, One in Three,
Source of all life, all love, all unity,
As one God you created all things, seen and unseen,
As one God you redeemed our fallen humanity
As one God you sustain all that you have made
Your unity and harmony may still be seen through the division and fractured fallenness of our world
Call us again, loving God, to be a people reconciled to you and reconciled to each other,
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is alive and reigns with the Father and the Spirit,
One God now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Jesus said, "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23-24)

At this point in a gathered service, pre-lockdown, we may have shared the peace together to give people an opportunity to offer a sign of reconciliation.  Whilst this is not possible, you may wish to pause at this point and if necessary, even consider making contact with anyone who comes to your heart and mind with whom you feel the need to be sure that you are of one heart.  For you, today, this could be an important act of worship.

Let's pray:

Come, Lord, and rule.
Come into our hearts and fill them with love.

Come, Lord and rule.
Come into our minds and fill them with peace.
Come, Lord and rule.
Come into our lives and fill them with light.
Come, Lord and rule.
Come into our days and fill them with glory.
Come, Lord and rule. (from The Rhythm of Life - David Adam, 1996)

Engaging with Scripture

Hymn - Ancient Words - use this link if you want the lyrics - https://youtu.be/zSZnTdE24xk or this beautiful version if you would rather just listen - https://youtu.be/jY3F3xnFD_0

Reading - Matthew 6:1-15 you may wish to listen to this reading here: https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Matt.6

6 ‘Be careful not to practise your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 ‘So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honoured by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5 ‘And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 ‘This, then, is how you should pray:


‘“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Reflection:

For those who have read or heard the Gospels for some time, the Sermon on the Mount probably contains some of Jesus' most familiar teaching.  There is possibly no passage more familiar to Christians than the passage we call the Lord's Prayer.  

In Luke's Gospel, Jesus gives the prayer in response to a request from the disciples that he teach them how to pray.  Here, in Matthew it comes at the heart of this first extended block of Jesus' teaching and in the context of his instruction that the disciples should not "practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them." (6:1)  The three merciful works of giving, praying and fasting (which is mentioned in the section just after our reading) are, Jesus says, to be done for God alone to see.   

Jesus seems to be addressing a form of  "performance religion" where pious acts were not focussed toward God, or those in need, but on elevating the status of the one 'performing' their religion in such an obvious way.  In this culture, the aim was to the favour of the people, possibly for political reasons.  Jesus tells his disciples that if they participate in that social structure where political influence is won by overt religious acts, then winning the favour of those around them is the only reward they can expect.  

Jesus clearly expects his disciples to be people who give, pray and fast, but who do it discretely with no view to immediate rewards. In earthly terms, care for the suffering ought to be the only motivation for giving, for praying for others or for showing solidarity with others through self-denial.  In eternal terms, there is the promise of a reward from God for those who do the right thing, because it is the right thing without any desire to be applauded by their fellow women and men.    

So as we read Jesus' words we might take him to thoroughly commend to us the desirability of showing loving and caring concern for those in need.  "When you see a need," he seems to be saying, "and you have the means to do something about it, then do.  Just do it discretely as an act of caring service to God and to your neighbour."  Elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes it clear that this should be without discrimination:

"Love your enemies ... if you love those who love you, what reward will you get?" (Matt 5:43,46) 

If we have the practical means to others' needs then giving to the needy is an appropriate (and according to James, necessary) act of righteousness because faith and deeds should align with each other.  (See James 2:14-17)  Even if we do not have the ability to offer practical support, it behoves all of us to be sincere in praying, not just for ourselves, but for all who are in need, "Give us this day our daily bread."  

To pray this seemingly simple request, may be more radical than we think.  For those of us who have more than enough to eat, to ask, with a sincere heart, for God to provide the daily needs of the whole community may mean that we have to hold before God our relative wealth and make it available for God to show us how to manage our resources in a more community-minded way.  

Jesus' prayer not only impresses on us the importance of caring for one another in the way that we use our resources, but in the way we pay attention to our relationships.  

Jesus makes no further comment on the lines of the Lord's prayer, save one: the one related to forgiveness. 

We are possibly familiar with the saying, "to err is human and to forgive is divine" but here we see Jesus saying something quite different.  He is saying that forgiveness is an essential part of our human relationships and our life as a community.  

When I think of these words, I get the sense of a flowing stream (living water is a good biblical image).  It is as if the stream of forgiveness rises in the heart of God and flows out toward each on of us, but then continues to flow out of us as we offer forgiveness to those who have "trespassed against us."  God's desire is that the world and human relationships should be well-watered with a continuous stream of forgiveness.

Yet, forgiveness can be as difficult as it is necessary.  It is the nature of human life, that all of us, from time to time, are likely to step over the mark.  

It can be easy, to speak before we have had a chance to check ourselves and in our words to cause hurt and injury.  The truth is that often we don't know what is going on for other people, and without meaning to, we may be treading on painful ground for someone else because we are responding to what we see.  It is not always a virtue to "speak as I find," since we cannot always be sure that what we perceive to be true is the whole story.  The same can be true of our actions.  A rash act, or a good deed withheld may be a step too far for someone else. 

And of course it works both ways, we can just as easily be on the receiving end as being the one who goes too far. 

I don't think that Jesus is asking us to be hyper-sensitive or to go digging around looking for offences (caused or received) but is asking us to take care.  In our prayers of confession we heard Jesus' teaching about putting right anything that is wrong in our relationships.  He suggests that it requires us to "Remember ... Go ... and be reconciled."

The more we live together, the more we get used to what is 'normal' for each other, and being sensitive to when someone else behaves in a way that is different may provide us with a clue that some caring attention is needed.  In that moment we may well remember an awkward moment when someone reacted strangely to something that was said or done.  It is at that moment that we need wisdom to find ways of checking whether the other person is okay and, if there is upset, to find a way of bringing about reconciliation.  

The challenge is to be those kind of people who are alert to the needs around us.  Being part of a caring community means noticing when there is a need or when there is upset and doing what we can to put things right.  Not because we are seeking a good reputation as a holy soul, but because doing the right thing is always the right thing.  Jesus tells us to bear no mind to whether anyone else has noticed, but to quietly, discretely but diligently go about doing our deeds of righteousness.  So that through our care and concern we can build a community that grows and shares in the love of God.  

His be the kingdom, the power and the glory.  Amen.  

Prayers of Concern for Others 

 Our Father in heaven, we pray through the Spirit in the name of Jesus,

 So fill us, that through every part of our lives we may bring glory to your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done.

 Strengthen our faith and our deeds that we might see the fullness of your reign

On earth, as it is in heaven.

 Give us open hearts, open eyes and open hands that throughout the world needs might be met.

Give us this day, Give all this day their daily bread.

 Show us how we might live our lives more fully for you

and forgive us where we have fallen short.

 Loosen our hands that we might let go of anything we are holding against another

We forgive those who have trespassed against us.

 Keep our hearts, minds, hands and feet on your pathways

leading us away from temptations

 Surround us with your protective presence

and bring us out from under evil influences.

 

at this point you may wish to add prayers of your own 

 

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours.

Now and for ever.  Amen 

Hymn - StF 409 - Let us build a house where Love can dwell.  https://youtu.be/wvitK3H4eJY (note this version has the score and words and includes a bridge to a chorus - this is different but fits with our theme)