Worship at Home 22 November 2020 - Trinity MC, Biggleswade - Church Anniversary

 

Worship at Home – Sunday 22^nd November 2020

Trinity Methodist Church Anniversary

this service will be led by Revd. Richard Barrett via Zoom (login details are available from Church stewards of Trinity, Sandy and Beeston) and will be streamed via YouTube (at https://youtu.be/piThJx2_b3o)

Call to Worship:

On this anniversary, let us give thanks to God for his House where we have met for generations and will meet again, asking him to unite us by his Spirit as we worship him now.

Hymn StF 677 – Christ is Made the Sure Foundation - https://youtu.be/kKZ8dwg8pow

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name,

    Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his goodness.

For each day dawning with a new beginning and fresh hope,
For the night, leaving the day's work behind and being restored
For Sunday to look back, appreciate good things and rest for tomorrow.     
Bless the Lord
Bless the Lord

For those who love us and those whose company we have enjoyed,
For those who have encouraged and supported us,
For glimpses of beauty and signs of goodness.
Bless the Lord...

For people whose service we depend on day by day,
For the communities where we live and work, for good neighbours and strangers who become friends,
For a world, diverse and rich, full of wonder and creativity.
Bless the Lord...

For bringing us through the hard times,
For sins forgiven and wounds healed,
For all the gospel has meant in our lives.
Bless the Lord...

For the church where we have worshipped and prayed,
For baptism and holy communion,
For fellowship and opportunities for service.
Bless the Lord...

For your loving purposes for your world,
For never giving up when we go our own way,
For constantly seeking to bring goodness out of evil, order from chaos
Bless the Lord...

For creating and sustaining us,
For comforting and challenging us,
For giving us new life and hope in this world and beyond
Bless the Lord...

Readings:

2 Chron. 6:12,14,18-19, 28-30

¹² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.

¹⁴ He said:

‘Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth – you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.

¹⁸ ‘But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple that I have built! ¹⁹ Yet, Lord my God, give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence.

²⁸ ‘When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when enemies besiege them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, ²⁹ and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel – being aware of their afflictions and pains, and spreading out their hands towards this temple – ³⁰ then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place. Forgive, and deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know the human heart),

2 Chron 7:12-16, 19-22

¹² the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

‘I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

¹³ ‘When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ¹⁵ Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. ¹⁶ I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.

¹⁹ ‘But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, ²⁰ then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple which I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. ²¹ This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?” ²² People will answer, “Because they have forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them – that is why he brought all this disaster on them.”’

Matthew 23:37- 24:1-2

³⁷ ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. ³⁸ Look, your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹ For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”’

24 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. ² Then he asked them, ‘You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

Hymn -StF 20 – Be Still for the Presence of the Lord - https://youtu.be/ZugvUQ4m90U

Sermon

                  Coming back to church after lockdown, even in restricted conditions, made us appreciate what we had missed. Now we face that again. Yes, we have been able to continue worship and prayer at home after a fashion, but it’s not the same as being in church. This is a special place, where prayers have been said for generations through good times and bad, families have been baptised and buried, communion has been received.

                 I am glad churches can stay open for private prayer. Personally I believe churches should have stayed open for prayer during the previous lockdown with appropriate safeguards. At times like these they stand as a sanctuary for people to go to and pray.

                On this church anniversary we can reaffirm our thanks for this place where we can stretch out our hands to God in prayer. Solomon says God knows our hearts and his eyes see and ears hear all our sufferings and sorrows.

                Solomon’s temple was evidently a grand edifice with the most costly and fine craftsmanship described in great detail in Chronicles, which required the work and taxes of poor people over many years. It was controversial because some in Israel like the OT prophets believed the idea of kingship and the temple in Jerusalem were a dangerous concentration of power, a possible challenge to God’s kingship and against the best egalitarian traditions of Israel. But in fairness to Solomon, notice how he humbly acknowledges that “the heavens cannot contain you, how much less this house! Will God reside with mortals on this earth?”

              Those words should be quoted at the opening of every new church and every church anniversary. On the one hand, we offer the best we can to God for him to call his House; on the other hand, we cannot presume to think God will be found here. The most we can hope is that “God will hear from heaven and forgive”. Solomon reminds us “There is no-one who does not sin”. “If you turn aside and forsake the commandments and serve other gods, God will cast his house out of his sight.” We must always come into God’s house humbly seeking his presence among us and asking for forgiveness. “Hear and forgive” have to be the first words on our lips.

                Solomon says that when calamities like plagues come upon the land, the people should turn from their wicked ways to God. He assumes, like much of the OT, that such things are sent from God as punishment. Some today have suggested this about the pandemic. Jesus taught that this kind of random affliction is not God’s doing in a direct way, but that nonetheless there are consequences for not following the commandments which God has designed for our welfare.

               In the Matthew reading Jesus berates the leaders in Jerusalem for their waywardness and predicts the destruction of Solomon’s temple by the Romans as a consequence of it. We should use this crisis to ask ourselves as a nation and a planet whether what is happening is partly a result of the way we live.

               Has not the spread of the virus followed social and economic fault lines in our communities that were there before but have now been graphically exposed- gross inequalities and injustices, divisions and hurts? Have we not become aware of other gods dominating our life- greed, selfishness, violence, narrow nationalism? This is the time, not to try to return to the old normal, but to change things for the better. And the church has to lead that call to the nation.

                 Notice God says “If my people turn from their wicked ways, I will forgive their sin and heal their land”. Our land needs healing, not just from the virus, but from divisions of poverty and racism. The church needs to pray on behalf of the nation for that healing. Our prayers of intercession are perhaps the most important part of our worship. “Hear, forgive and heal”.

                Solomon asks “Will God reside with mortals on earth?” He did not see the coming of Jesus that we have seen.  In the bread and wine of communion we see in flesh and blood the signs of God hearing forgiving and healing. In Jesus’ ministry he saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears all the sufferings and sorrows of humanity. In his words and actions he did indeed hear forgive and heal in God’s name.  When we stretch out our hands to ask in prayer, we receive those tokens in our hands.

                The church cannot contain God’s presence, he is so much greater than we can imagine. It has always to ask God humbly to make his home here with his people as he promised, as long as our first words are Solomon’s, “Hear and forgive”. That must be our prayer on this church anniversary as we give thanks for this place and rededicate ourselves to making God’s house his home.

 

 

PRAYERS of INTERCESSION

 

Almighty God, at this time of uncertainty, we acknowledge how fragile our lives are, how vulnerable, and how interdependent. We depend upon your grace and faithfulness.

Lord, in your mercy, HEAR, FORGIVE AND HEAL.

Save us from both panic and complacency. We pray for those working to keep us safe, government and scientists seeking treatments and vaccines. We give thanks for the progress towards a new vaccine. Give them wisdom and hope to continue this vital work.

Save us from taking for granted the renewed efforts of doctors and nurses in this second wave of the pandemic as they struggle with a growing workload. Give them strength and the resources they need to face these immense challenges.

Save us from tiredness in observing guidance and being mindful of others as the months pass. Keep us open to our neighbours and to strangers.  Grant us perseverance and compassion.

Save us from being inward -looking and selfish. Let us remember those countries struggling with scant resources and basic health care. We give thanks for the plans to share vaccines across the nations. Give us open minds and generous hearts.

We pray for the United States and its President-elect, that the promised new era of justice, unity and healing may indeed be pursued, putting an end to division and hate.

May we learn through this crisis to live better together on our shared planet, to respect creation and seek the common good.

Let us in a quiet moment each offer our own prayers for others and ourselves.

We take comfort that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

All these prayers we offer in his name. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Hymn StF 706 – Longing for Light - https://youtu.be/ZJq3bhdgQoc

 

The Grace