Worship
at Home – Sunday February 28th 2021
2nd Sunday of Lent
Introduction
Whilst acknowledging that this is the 2nd Sunday of Lent, our service today includes a message that may feel slightly un-Lenten because the focus is on "How are you caring for yourself?" However, as I note in the reflection, Jesus' time in the wilderness ended with the angels coming to minister to him. Holding together Jesus' call to self-sacrifice with his instruction to 'love one another' has not always achieved successfully by the Church, yet in this Covid Lent following a year of struggle and hardship, perhaps it is good for us to pay attention to the need for care and kindness.
I can't finish this introduction without some mention of our dear friend Rose Forbes, who left us so suddenly this week. Those who have joined our prayer sessions over the course of lockdown all know how Rose would fill the room with her delight at hearing our voices. She had an uncanny knack of tempting me into singing for her, and some of the hymns in today's services are ones that she persuaded me to attempt to sing in those sessions over recent weeks. Even in the remote environment of a telephone conference call, Rose had an amazing ability to reach out with a hug. Rose's faith was always expressed with warmth and enthusiasm and an energy that belied her age. It is from the example of such saints, that we learn that there really is joy to be known in following Jesus. I imagine that Rose's arrival in his presence to have been accompanied with a whirlwind of hugging and laughter and such an image brings both tears and joy to me as well as thankfulness to have known her for just a short period. I know many of you, who knew Rose for much longer will miss her terribly such was the force of her personality and her ability to make memories wherever she went. Rose was a good and faithful servant of Jesus who has now entered her reward. May she sing, dance and laugh eternally.
Call to Worship:
Come all you
heavy-laden, come and he will give you rest,
Come all you who mourn, come and he will give you comfort,
Come and lift your eyes to Jesus,
Come and let him release you from your chains,
Come he has set your heart free to worship Him!
Come!
Hymn – Stf 137 – New Every Morning is the love -
Opening Prayers:
Let us pray,
Lord, you are steadfast in your love
and infinite in your mercy;
you welcome sinners
and invite them to be your guests.
We confess our sins,
trusting in you to forgive us.
Silence
We have yielded
to temptation and sinned:
Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
We have turned
from our neighbours in their need:
Christ have
mercy.
Christ have mercy.
We have resisted
your word in our hearts:
Lord have mercy.
Lord have mercy.
May almighty God
have mercy on us,
forgive us our sins
and keep us in life eternal. Amen
(Methodist Worship Book – p148-49)
Hymn – StF 345 And Can it Be -
Reading: Matthew 11.27–30
27 ‘All things have
been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and
no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to
reveal him.
28 ‘Come to me, all you
who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I
am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy
and my burden is light.
Reflection
Last week we
considered Jesus temptations in the wilderness.
You may remember that in our printed reflection, I spoke of his hunger
as being temporary and intentional. He
chose to fast and pray in obedience to God’s will. At the end of the story, once the tempter had
given up, we read that ‘angels came and were ministering to him.’ (Matt 4.11) So, at the end of the story which focuses on
Jesus’ self-denial, and the testing and trial of his temptations, we are left
with a picture of Jesus receiving the ministry of care from the angelic
ministers.
Sometimes,
especially in Lent, we may get the impression that Christianity places all the emphasis
on self-denial and the hard road of discipleship. However, it is important to balance this
message about the challenge of following Christ by reminding ourselves that the
God who calls us to follow is One who loves us and cares for us beyond our imagination. On one hand, Christ calls us to leave behind
lives of self-centred indulgence, yet on the other he calls us to discover that
through him, “God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in
glory...” (Phillipians 4.19)
In our Methodist
Way of Life commitment card, the first pledge under the heading of Learning and Care reads:
We will care for ourselves and those around us
One of the
questions we are encouraged to regularly consider asks:
How are you caring for yourself?
One of the most
awkward moments I have experienced so far since I arrive in North Bedfordshire
was over lunch in one of the churches, when someone gently asked if they could
put a question to me. I can’t remember
their exact words, but the question above would be a good summary of what they
asked.
Why was it an
awkward moment? Because I believe my
questioner suspected that, like many people, I am better at caring for others
(the second part of the pledge) than at caring for myself. Hmmm!
So having
confessed that caring for self does not come easy, perhaps it underlines why it
is such an important subject for us to consider.
Sometimes, it is
easy for us to read the Gospels and miss the number of occasions on which Jesus
demonstrates care for himself. Despite
knowing that his obedience to God would lead him to the cross, Jesus didn’t neglect
to pay attention to and address his physical and spiritual needs. It was all part of his obedience to his
Father. Once we grasp that self-care was
an important part of Jesus’ lifestyle, we may be ready to hear what he has to
say to us about the importance of looking after ourselves.
So let's begin
by looking at one or two moments when Jesus showed self-care:
The Gospels
regularly record Jesus demonstrating self-care by taking himself away from the
crowds to pray. (See, for example, Mark
1.35, Mark 6.45,46) He also tried to
make time to be alone with his friends.
(see Mark 6.30–32, Mark 7.24, John 6.1–3) We also see him resting when he is tired and
sending for food or asking for drink when he is hungry, (see the woman at the
well John 4)
In all these
cases, and more, the Gospel writers, give us an insight into Jesus’ awareness
of his own needs. They do not usually labour
the point, maybe because it is given that looking after our physical and
spiritual health should be a non-negotiable.
We don’t see Jesus being indulgent, taking more than he needs either of
rest, food and drink or other people’s company.
Neither, though, is he self-negligent.
Caring for himself is clearly part of his way of life.
Jesus also knew the
importance of ensuring that those around him were cared for. Again we can pick out examples from the
Gospels when Jesus sees people struggling and is moved with compassion for
them.
Matthew 9.36 When he saw the crowds, he
had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd.
Matthew 14.14 When Jesus landed and saw
a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Mark 8.2 “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. He goes on to instruct his disciples to meet the crowd’s need.
and in our
passage he speaks to ‘the weary and burdened.’
Through Jesus’
example, and his reaction to others we can see that he gives us permission to
admit when we are struggling with the demands of life. He gives us permission to admit when ‘enough
is enough!’ And pay attention to caring
for ourselves.
Jesus does this
by paying appropriate attention to his physical needs: by resting when he is tired,
by nourishing his body with food and drink and by seeking support among his
friends.
He also pays
attention to his spiritual needs by seeking time alone with God, especially for
prayer.
It is because he
is able to care for himself that he is able to care for his disciples and for
the crowds. He cares for his disciples
by giving them permission to withdraw from the needs of the crowds, to linger
over nourishing food and drink, to enjoy peace and quiet alone, with God and
with each other. He cares for the crowds
by offering them guidance, by feeding them when they are hungry and by
attending to the needs of their sick and disabled.
Jesus never hid
from his disciples that following him was a tough road, not least because there
would be plenty who would oppose his way.
So whilst he prepared his disciples for the hardships and opposition
they would face and set out resolutely for Jerusalem and for the cross, he balanced
this by calling them to be a community of care and a fellowship of love. He demonstrated this in his own care for
himself. It is this Jesus who cared for
himself, but who nonetheless walked the road to the cross, who invites the weary
and burdened to come to him and to find refreshment for their bodies and rest for
their souls. This Jesus invites us all
to learn from him and discover that as well as challenges there is joy that comes
from being his disciple. What a friend
we have in Jesus!
Hymn – StF 531 What a friend we have in Jesus -
Prayers of
Intercession
For our prayers of intercession I encourage you find a comfortable and
still place to sit. Remember our focus
today is caring for ourselves – so if you need to get a drink, a blanket or a
cushion do so. Prayer isn’t intended to
be a trial!
Allow yourself to rest in the quietness. You may wish to close your eyes, look out of
the window (or if your place of comfort is outside – look around you) or use an
object such as a candle, icon or photograph to centre your attention.
Take time to be alone with God and to pray for your own situation. As you sit in the stillness, tell God how
things are for you today. If you have
any particular worries or needs then voice them. If there are particular areas you wish to give
thanks for express those too. Allow
enough time for silence so that you can sense the presence of God with you as
you pray. Linger in this space long
enough to feel that you have spent ‘quality time’ with your friend Jesus.
When you feel that you have told God all that you need to express about
your own situation then allow your attention to turn to others – talk to God
about those situations in whatever way feels appropriate to you. And again allow time for silence to allow
yourself to sense God sharing your concerns.
When you feel that your prayer time is coming to a natural end, you may
wish to finish with the words of The
Lord’s Prayer
When you are ready sing or listen our closing hymn
Hymn – StF 403 – God is love: his the care -
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