Sunday 14th February 2021 - Worship at Home
Introduction
Our Service today follows the format of Morning Prayer with a Sermon and the Sermon is provided by Revd. Stan Short (the recorded version is read by me!)
Call to Worship:
Give joyful
thanks to the Father,
God has qualified you to share in the inheritance of God’s holy people,
God has joined you to that great company of people in the kingdom of light.
You have been rescued from the dominion of
darkness
You have been brought into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves,
You are redeemed.
You are forgiven.
Colossians
1:12–13
StF 338 – There is a Redeemer -
Prayers of Approach
Open our eyes to see your glory,
Open our ears to hear your word,
Open our minds to understand
and open our hearts that we might be made more like Christ.
Cause your glory to shine upon us in the
face of Jesus Christ
as we turn our attention to the mystery of the cross
make know to us his true nature
and grant that we might faithfully follow him
setting aside all that stops us from doing your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Final section adapted from Collect for Sunday before Lent (MWB page
533)
Prayer of Confession
Merciful and gracious God,
you know the secrets of our hearts,
you know that sometimes I feel that my life is a contradiction
between the good things I wish to do but do not
and those bad habits and ways that I would like to leave behind but keep
returning to.
As I look back over the last few days,
I see the things I have started but not completed,
I see the things I have neglected because I judged them to be too difficult or
too trivial
I hear the words I have spoken and regretted the moment they left my lips
and I hear the silence that could have been filled with words
of encouragement and support for others
or praise and worship of You.
And yet despite all my weaknesses and
failings,
I sense your continued presence,
reaching out to me in love,
offering me forgiveness
and inviting me to renew my commitment to you.
Lifted by your grace and cleansed by your
mercy
I rise from the ashes of my past
and renew my commitment to follow you today and in the future,
through Jesus Christ your Son my Redeemer.
Amen
Hymn – MP476 – My Lord, What Love is this
Setting the Scene (for the Sunday before Lent)
Today is the
last Sunday before Lent. In our modern
lectionary, the Gospel reading for this Sunday is The Transfiguration of
Christ. In Mark’s Gospel, this moment
comes immediately after Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah which marks
a change in Jesus’ emphasis as he begins to focus his attention on Jerusalem
and his suffering, rejection, death and resurrection. (Mark 8.29f) Peter responds to this with horror, taking
Jesus aside to rebuke him for such talk of defeat and failure. In return, he himself is sternly rebuked by
Jesus:
“Get behind me,
Satan! … You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human
concerns.”
As if to
underline the point, Peter along with James and John accompany Jesus into the
mountain where they are granted a glimpse into divine concerns. The appearance of Moses and Elijah suggest
that what is about to take place will be a fulfilment of the Law and the
Prophets. As for Peter, James and John,
the instruction is clear – they are to hold firm to their emerging faith that
Jesus is God’s beloved Son and they are to go on listening to Him. (Mark 9.7)
For the days and
weeks following this mountain-top encounter, they were to Peter and the others
were to treat their experience as a personal revelation; Jesus ordered them to
tell no-one else what had taken place (a silence we assume they kept until
Jesus’ words about his death and resurrection had been fulfilled.) We wonder whether this moment had been
granted to them, to sustain them as they encountered at close quarters the
suffering and rejection that Jesus would endure. And in wondering, we are reminded, possibly,
as we begin our observation of Lent, that God’s demands of us are always made
within the context of God’s love for us.
When our path through life takes us through trials and temptations, may
the Spirit prompt us as Peter, James and John were prompted, to turn our eyes
to Jesus, to be reminded again that He is the very manifestation of God’s love
and to keep our ears alert for the Good News of God’s kingdom, that He has come
to proclaim.
Hymn – StF 666 – Master Speak, Thy Servant Heareth! -
Reading: Mark 9.2–9
2 After
six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high
mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before
them. 3 His
clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach
them. 4 And
there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.
5 Peter
said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three
shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ 6 (He did not know what
to say, they were so frightened.)
7 Then a
cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: ‘This is my
Son, whom I love. Listen to him!’
8 Suddenly,
when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
9 As they
were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what
they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Transfiguration Witnesses – by Tim Coleman
Prayers of
Intercession (you may wish to
use the image by Tim Coleman as a prayer focus and the following words by David
Adam to help shape your prayers)
Come, Lord of light, transfigure
us,
Increase our vision and reveal to
us your glory.
May your church seek to transform
our darkest places with your light.
May we seek out the lost and the
deprived, the poor and the rejected,
And bring them home to you and
your love.
We pray for the mission and
outreach of the whole church.
Lord touch us
And transfigure us.
Come, Lord of light, transfigure
our towns and cities.
We pray for areas of danger, for
places of vice,
For poor housing and for
street-dwellers.
Lord, transform our places of
poverty;
Change our attitudes for the
better towards each other.
Lord touch us
And transfigure us.
Lord of light, come transfigure
our homes,
That they may be radiant with your
presence.
Make them homes of peace and
kindliness,
Of holiness and hospitality,
Of grace and goodness;
That you may be known to be among
us.
Lord touch us
And transfigure us.
Lord of light and love,
transfigure our hospitals and nursing homes.
We pray for all whose lives have
been marred by evil or tragedy.
We pray for the downcast or
fearful.
We remember all who await a
doctor’s diagnosis or an operation.
We pray for all who seek healing
and hope.
Lord touch us
And transfigure us.
We give thanks for all who have
passed beyond death and been transformed in your beautiful
kingdom:
For the saints, for our
benefactors, for loved ones departed;
That we like them may come to the
fullness of your presence.
Lord touch us
And transfigure us.
Taken from Traces of Glory by David Adam
Sermon – Revd. Stan Short (written for Trinity, but used here
for our whole mission group)
Good morning
friends.
Well, I’m in my
70’s, and so it’s good to be doing something I’ve never done before! Namely
preparing a message for presentation on zoom.
Firstly, may I
thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring this sermon today. Having
considered other possibilities, I have felt it right to give the sermon that I intended
to bring nearly a year ago, but like now, the churches were closed, so I didn’t
get the chance. So, here is that sermon – albeit somewhat briefer than it would
have been in the original live version. The sermon has the title:
LIVE IN HARMONY WITH ONE ANOTHER
In the letters
of Paul, the words “one another” crop up quite frequently: Such as; Love one
another, Forgive one another, Pray for one another … and so on.
The one we are
to consider this morning is: “ Live in harmony with one another.” Which is
found in Romans 12:10. And a couple of verses later, and on a similar theme, it
says: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with
everyone.”
HARMONY …
It is one of
those words that we all know what it means, but I suspect that many of us would
find it hard to explain It were we compiling a dictionary.
Here is an
interesting and perhaps revealing fact. The New Testament never presumes that
simply because we are Christians we are necessarily going to get on well together.
Were that the case, there would be no need for a verse like this: Ephesians
4:3: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bonds of
peace.” The very words “Make every effort …” does rather imply that it’s
something that doesn’t always just come naturally and easily with no effort on
our part.
With such a
clear instruction, you do wonder why there have been such bitter quarrels,
disputes and divisions among Christians right down through the ages.
All that said,
there is a balancing truth that we must not ignore. Actually, this is an
important principle of Bible interpretation. We must always compare Scripture
with Scripture and not just pull out a few verses that highlight one side of a
case, but disregard other Scriptures that give complimentary truths, but from a
different point of view. They must be held in balance.
We have before
us a case in point. Yes, we must seek harmony with fellow Christians, but we
need to discern that those who make such a claim are indeed true Christians.
And if not, we are not required to seek a pleasant unity with them just because
they happen to attend our church. There are two topics over which Scripture is
adamant that we do not try to be living in harmony.
One is
concerning our beliefs and the other relates to our behaviour.
Just listen to
these words of Paul about those who had infiltrated the church with false
teaching. Galatians 1:8 : “ But even if we or an angel from heaven should
preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally
condemned.”
And on the
behaviour issue, listen to these strong words again from Paul. 1 Corinthians 5:
11 : “But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who
calls himself a brother, but is sexually immoral or greedy, or an idolator or a
slanderer , a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” Having
heard such words, it’s probably worth adding that Paul is not surely speaking
of a one off slip, (as we all do, and need God’s forgiveness) but a permanent
lifestyle.
Very well,
having given attention to the exceptions, let us now return to normal church
life and normal Christians.
As we do so, we
must face the question; “With Christians who are not teaching heresy or
involved in bad behaviour, why – even if only occasionally – are there still
quarrels among us?”
Believe it or
not, much of the answer is summed up in the familiar words: “We are all
different.” -- Christian or not.
I wonder if you
have ever heard of the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (usually
referred to as M.B.P.T.I.) Well even you haven’t, you will certainly heard of
Extroverts and Introverts, and M.B.P.T.I. identifies 16 basic personality
types. Let me give you an example of how different personality types can effect
church life.
An issue has
cropped up in the affairs of a local church life and a decision has to be made,
so a meeting to discuss the matter has been called. At the meeting, Personality
Number 1 stands to address the gathering and says something like this: “Well
folks, let’s not waste time, we’ve heard the pro’s and con’s and we do have to
make a decision, so let’s get on with it and make a decision now.” Ah,
but Personality Number 2 says something more like this: “Oh friends, we mustn’t
be too hasty about this. Surely we need more time to consider the proposal and
pray about it. Because whatever we decide, it will have long term consequences
for many of our congregation.”
Now, you would
be hard pushed to say one was right and the other was wrong, but it does show
how differing personalities can influence decision making and along the way,
cause friction and disharmony.
However, Paul is
at pains to plead with us to seek to put differences aside and live together in
unity. Here are his words in 1 Corinthians 1: 10: “ I appeal to you brothers,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so
that there may no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in
mind and thought,” Unfortunately Paul doesn’t tell us how that can always be
done!
Maybe Peter has
part of the answer as he addresses the heart rather than the intellect. 1 Peter
3:8
Finally, all of
you, live in harmony with one another; love as brothers, be compassionate and
humble…”
I must close. I
believe Trinity is a happy church and I have no reason to think that you are
not together in harmony. Well, by God’s grace and enabling, may that ever be
the case, and all to his glory.
God bless you
all.
Amen.
Rev. Stan Short
(Jan. 20 21)
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn – StF 681 Community of Christ -
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