2 Corinthians 4: 1 – 15

Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.  We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.  In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.  For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.  For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;  always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies.  For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.  So death is at work in us, but life in you.

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak,  because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.  Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Reflection

I was a committed member of an Anglican church before working for the URC.  I began ‘my journey of exploration’ as I call it, in a Synod Office and, for the final 23 years, I worked at Church House in a number of roles.  In one respect, the URC has been the mainstay of my life for the last 25 years – and still is (much to my surprise)! However, I know many other Christians across denominations who have told me that they feel let-down and frankly disappointed having worked for a church.

Let me try to explain: when I began working for the Church, at first all was wonderful.  I felt that I could finally ‘give something back’ and be amongst people who cared about other people – all people!  There would be no ‘back-stabbing’, no prejudice of any kind, no imbalance.  After all, we were all working for the same side, weren’t we?  After 25 years when I reflect back, I can see that along the way, there have been examples of all of the above that I would not want to see again – not anywhere let alone within a Church organisation.

I had assumed, like a lot of other people, that working for a Church would be working with Christians who respected and cared about and supported each other, but there were times when it didn’t seem like that at all!  To balance this, most have been shining examples of being God’s people but every now and then …

At the end of the day, people are human beings first, created in the image of God and some hide their flaws more successfully – and of course I have to include myself in that number.  I can only seek forgiveness for my own sins and pray that those who did not truly reflect God’s love when they might have done, have also repented and sought forgiveness also.

Prayer

Father, root out the darkness and light up my life with Your holy presence. You are the only one who provides for all my needs. I have no need to turn to others for satisfaction and approval.  You alone fill up my soul with deep down joy and peace beyond all understanding.  May it always be so, my Lord and my God.   Amen.

 

Habakkuk  3: 17 – 19

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
    and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
    and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
    and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    and makes me tread upon the heights.

Reflection

Elie Wiesel told of rabbis imprisoned in Auschwitz putting God on trial for allowing the German genocide against His chosen people, the Jews.  After many arguments, the rabbis found God guilty – who on earth could blame them?  Then, after the verdict was delivered, a candle was lit and the evening prayers were said.

There is much in the Church demanding a guilty verdict.  Our record on anti-semitism is, perhaps, our most ancient sin vying for prime position with our sexism.  Sections of the Church justified colonial expansion and its consequent slavery.  The persecution of those who thought, or loved, differently added to our hatred and denial of God’s image in His creation – to say nothing about how our clinging to patriarchal modes of power imperils the lives and faith of women and children.  Then there’s the Church’s inability to see, and differentiate itself from, what’s going on around it.  Whilst the Earth burns – fuelled in no small measure by the wars we wage – the Church prefers to focus on the insignificant.  

Personally I’ve been wounded by sections of the Church far more than by wider social movements – and those wounds have come most deeply from the more “progressive,” “inclusive,” and “liberal,” parts of the Church far more than my Catholic childhood or charismatic Anglican teenage years (though they don’t get a not guilty verdict either!)  

So why am I still a Christian?  Millennia ago the prophet Habbakuk foresaw environmental ruin and consequent famine and yet still sung of his trust in the Most High.  Decades ago those rabbis in Auschwitz clung to faith at the same time as believing God had wronged them.  I can only admire that illogical tenacity.  I don’t believe God has wronged me – but elements of His Church have.  So for me, being a Christian is often about differentiating between God and the Church; seeing the Church as a flawed agency of God’s love always in need of radical reform.

Prayer

God of the Church
we pray for its renewing,
for You to show us where we need to reform,
where we can bind up the wounds of our world,
that we may praise you,
and cease wounding others.
Amen.

 

Worship Notes and Weekly Intercessions

Dear Friends,

Millennia ago the prophet Habakkuk, when faced with war, environmental disaster and consequent famine, sung:
 

Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation.
 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
and makes me tread upon the heights.

Words which resonate as we face the consequences of human greed wreaking havoc on the fragile earth.  As the climate changes, the ice melts, and sea waters rise we will have to adapt and learn to mitigate the dreadful climate changes which are already upon us.  What I find fascinating is that Habakkuk didn’t turn away from God when faced with his traumas and, in these times of change and danger I hope we won’t either.

Habakkuk’s response was to turn to God and, in worship found the strength to make sense of his world and to adapt to his realities.  Week after week we gather to worship in church and chapel, in grand buildings and around computer screens.  As we sing, pray, listen and share in the simple things of bread and wine, we encounter the Risen Lord who strengthens and enables us to be His disciples.

In order to help local churches produce good worship the URC produces weekly Worship Notes.   This week’s notes were written by the Rev’d Wayne Hawkins.  Wayne offers an all age activity based on party invitations using this as a way into discussion of the parable of the Wedding Feast.  All the prayers you need and a range of hymns are provided.

As Wayne produced these notes some time ago we also ensure that Weekly Intercessions are produced for people to use or adapt to their own local contexts.  Church Related Community Worker, Kirsty-Ann Mabbott, has produced this week’s prayers:

Loving and Eternal God, we come before you to pray for your creation.
We know that prayer alone is not enough, we must also act where we are able.

We pray for the world, for places where despair is great and where your creation groans in pain. We think of places of conflict, especially Palestine & Israel and Ukraine & Russia. These are places of high tension and inequality and we ask for peace, reconciliation and conflict transformation amongst the people in these places. We recognise that there is conflict in many other places in the world, such as Yemen, Iraq, Ethiopia and ask that your peace and healing come to these and other places, where we can turn to our siblings in humanity and see that they are all children of God, all valid, equal and worthy of love, compassion and understanding.

We pray for the places in the world that are suffering from the effects of natural disasters; In Afghanistan where thousands have died due to the earthquake and tens of thousands more are suffering; In Tibet where an avalanches have killed two and left two missing; In Australia where fires have again devastated the land and warn of what is to come. These places seem far away and of less concern to us who are safe and comfortable in our British homes, but we know that we are partly responsible due to our destruction of the environment, our over-consumption of resources and wasteful nature. Help each of us to consider our energy use, food waste, fast fashion and desire to have more than we need. Empower us to speak out to our leaders and politicians so that they understand the urgency of this matter.

We pray for the sick and dying around the world, especially for those dying from curable, preventative and treatable diseases, such as the cholera outbreak in Sudan, coronavirus around the world, measles and tuberculosis, zika and HIV/AIDS. Many of these diseases are affecting the most vulnerable in the world, especially in the global south where corruption and politics prevent people accessing the treatment they should be entitled to. Inspire us to work with organisations that are trying to ensure that treatment and medication get to those who need it in these places.

We pray for our country and our leaders, especially when we do not agree with their politics and policies. Encourage us to speak out and challenge our leaders when we see their policies do not lift up the oppressed and marginalised. We think about the main political party conferences that have been taking place over the last few weeks, we may be shocked or pleased with the things that have been said or decided. May we have the courage to use the power we have as the people of this country to challenge and inspire those who represent us to work harder for the lifting up of the sick, poor, stranger and marginalised so that our country can truly flourish.

We pray for the Church, here today and across the world. We are blessed to be able to worship openly, to read Scripture and debate theological understanding, but we are often ashamed of our faith and lacking in understanding. Help us to not be ashamed and to have the desire to deepen our discipleship and faith. Help us remember that we have siblings in faith around the world who are persecuted or being tortured, imprisoned and killed for their faith in you. We pray for them, acknowledge their bravery and thank you for their devotion to you. Give us the strength to be like them, to step out in faith boldly and to work to deepen our discipleship and understanding of you so that we can better serve you in the world.

We ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, our Source, Goal and Guide. Amen.

Kirsty-Ann Mabbott

Please also remember the URC has produced prayers around the conflict in Palestine and Israel which can be found here.  They can also be used in worship.

I hope that your experience and discipline of worship delights, strengthens and empowers you as we adapt to the realities of our world.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

St Luke 7:36-50  Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.  When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!” Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.” “Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied. Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, cancelling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” 

“That’s right,” Jesus said.  Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.  You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”  Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?” And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
 
Reflection
 
You could compare this with Mark’s version at the start of chapter 14.
 
Who is this woman?  Who have you been taught she is, as you have journeyed with faith and journeyed with the Church?  Was she sinful? What then, were her sins?
 
Who do you say she is?
 
The reality is we simply don’t know.
 
Does it matter?
 
Jesus receives a moment of costly and challenging devotion.

Jesus challenges judgements and assumptions of what is right and proper,  what might count as good spiritual practice. This woman defies convention, to do what counts in the moment and demonstrate love. Jesus affirms her.
 
It’s ironic then, that Church tradition has linked this story, this woman, with Mary Magdalene and Mary Magdalene to sin and prostitution, and discredited her.
 
Early Church writings describe Mary Magdalene as a disciple and Church leader, the ‘apostle to the Apostles’ , who ‘always walked with the Lord’ who ‘loved her more than the other disciples’. (Gospel of Philip 3), of whom Jesus said ‘your heart is directed to the kingdom of heaven more than all your brothers’ (Pistis Sophia 26:17-20).
 
‘Every variety of ancient Christianity that advocated the legitimacy of women’s leadership was eventually declared heretical and evidence of women’s early leadership roles was erased or suppressed.’ (Karen King,  Professor of New Testament Studies & the History of Ancient Christianity, Harvard University – Frontline 1998)
 
There is no evidence this woman was a prostitute or that it was Mary Magdalene. I’m still a Christian despite the link made by male leaders and writers which served to diminish and discredit both the woman in this story and Mary Magdalene in her role as a key disciple and spiritual leader within the early Church.
 
It does matter.
 
The Church continues to struggle with the place of women and sex, and a widening LGBTQ+ community.
 
Is our lesson her devoted action? Or his wrong assumptions?
 
What is God saying to you today?

Prayer 
 
Living, Holy, Mother Father God,
unbound by our conventions,
not claiming power in authority and judgement,
revealing it instead in costly love –
forgive our need to draw the line,
to silence your disquieting challenge,
our assumption-blindness to your unexpected presence in our midst.
Where love is offered despite the cost,
where care is given despite the stare,
where welcome is given despite the threat,
You are present, in Spirit and in truth,  Alleluia!

 

I’m Still A Christian Despite…

Dear Friends,

I hope you found David Coleman’s reflections over the last week stimulating.

Over the next few weeks a range of people will reflect on why they are still Christian.  There is much in our contemporary world which can challenge our faith and our commitment to remain in the Church – racism, sexism, changing ideologies, our own attitudes, as well as those of others.  In what I think is a stimulating set of devotions we hear from a range of people – some writing for the first time for us – about why they are still a Christian despite….well despite a range of things.  I hope it will help you reflect on why you still believe.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Prayers in a Time of Conflict

Dear Friends,

I imagine that, like me, you’ve been appalled by news today from Palestine/Israel.  War and violence, terror and propaganda now fill our airways; some countries calling for restraint from all parties, others seeming rather more one sided.  It’s hard to know what to say or pray.  To help with personal, and public, worship the URC has prepared some Prayers in a Time of Conflict which can be freely used – no further permission is needed.  They are written in three different styles and we hope they will appeal to a variety of churches and church folk.

Please feel free to share them.

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship
 

Luke 13: 6-9

Then [Jesus ] told this parable: ‘Someone  had a fig tree planted in their vineyard; and they came looking for fruit on it and found none. So they said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” They replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”’

Reflection

Photo credit David Coleman

The Brothers Grimm’s ‘Tales for children and household’ were an attempt to present to a wider public the folk heritage which inculcated practical wisdom.  A level of vulgarity and edginess survives in current German editions. But even then, some of the tales were tidied up and gentrified, as indeed are many English translations of the Bible – the Gospels in particular. It seemed less embarrassing for the wedding guests at Cana to have ‘drunk deeply’ than be ‘drunk.’ [John 2:10]. I’m still waiting to hear (-and hoping not to be asked to write-) a sermon on Ezekiel 23:20. 

And yet, ‘fairy tales’ when they are so diluted lose their effectiveness.  So too with what we do on Sundays.  The baby with the bathwater is too often the lively personality of the Earth or fellow creatures. In this case – the tree.  Of course, now it’s finally become almost respectable to talk of the language, behaviour, and communication of trees, we have no excuse.

It’s a bit sad when preachers skilfully avoid the possibility of the final uprooting of the fig tree, planted – if you notice the detail, in a vineyard – which is a pretty bad place for a fig-tree.  Add to that the greedy premature demands of the owner, who pays but doesn’t work.  

The gardener, with practical understanding of the needs of plants suggests intervention: manure carefully dug in. Tender-hearted preachers stop there and miss the point and inculcating complacency.  It seems OK.  God will always save us. No need to be fruitful. The danger – in this case, from the unjust exploiter of tree and gardener – is real, even if measures are taken. 

We uproot Jesus’ parable by reducing the tree to a mere object or mechanism, rather than a suffering creature under commercial pressure, invited to a partnership in solidarity with the one who doesn’t wield the power. 

The pressure’s on. But there’s hope.  That’s  sometimes as much as we can offer.

Prayer

Christ the Gardener –
was that mistaken identity when Mary met you,
or just one of the hats you wear?
nurturing what’s green and growing;
grasping weakness,  
mindful when we’re out of place and order?

Christ the Gardener –
Digging round and trowelling in
the ‘dirt’ we need as Earth’s own children:
close connection, roots and water.

Christ the Gardener –
Give us one more chance,  and clearer:
Then, by grace, the fruit is up to us!
Amen

Exodus 3:1-2

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

Matthew 4:24 27

‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise person who built their house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a fool who built their house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’

Reflection

Photo credit David Coleman

In amongst all the many loving warnings of Scripture, there are also equally loving ultimatums, which, though I’ve grown up to see them as harsh, can be taken to heart. Unless I’m mindful of limits, be it of the danger to Church workers of burnout, or of the changes to sea-level and continued global warming, there’s disaster – which I will have chosen – just around the corner. 

Writing this very short reflection, Scriptural examples crowd in on me: not least, the completely contemporary story of the builders on sand and on rock, neither of whom could ‘fix the climate’.  That’s more realistic than even some aid agencies have dared to be in recent years.

The one who wisely took notice, both of the ‘signs of the climate’ and their own limits,  engaging in mitigation and adaptation, was the one who, happy ending or not,  at least survived. 

The warnings are God’s protection, and this story is presented as the seal on the collection of teachings in Matthew we know as the Sermon on The Mount.  Several times, I’ve presented the whole ‘Sermon’ in the Sunday slot with congregations, and it’s a roller-coaster experience which adds power to this parable.  After all you’ve been through, says Jesus, are you going to take any notice.

I like to put the “blazing bush’ story together with that of the builders, because both show salvation by the skin of our teeth.

The bush was not fireproof nor the rock-house waterproof.  The bush was blazing – suffering the extremity where help was urgently needed. And of the builders, both suffered extreme flooding. But like investors in, and users of, sustainable energy farming, building, and transport, the rock-builder saw the cost of denial.

Alertness, awareness, and the willingness to act urgently – and sacrificially – are the path to the happiest of endings we’re likely to get.  Thanks be to God.

Prayer

God of Cross and Empty Tomb
Sometimes we might pray 
‘Please fix the world!’
And turn despairing, finding 
nothing healed, only changed for worse!

But you give us richer hope than that:
with eyes wide open, reading signs:
responding as we’re called and able,
to the floods, the fire, the heat, and rising water.

Save us from the tyranny of what can’t be.
Walk with us through the waters of what will be.
And all the while speak playfully of what might yet be,
Christ who came again, but different:
our Repurposed friend!

Wednesday, 4 October 2023  
Job – a happy ending BUT no restoration of what is lost.   
The Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi

Jeremiah 12:4 

How long will the land mourn, and the grass of every field wither?
For the wickedness of those who live in it the animals and the birds are swept away,
and because people said, ‘[God] is blind to our ways.’

1 John 4:20

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.

Galatians 3: 28

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

Reflection

Some time ago the URC decided that no one should be trained for ministry who is unable to accept the ordination of both men and women to all the offices of the Church.   This means that whilst an opinion may freely be held, the discipline of the Church prevents the considerable harm that can be done to faith and health when such discrimination is propagated.

Of course, someone holding clearly racist or homophobic views would – and should – also be vetted out – depriving them of the opportunity to harm others.  There is no right to ordination.  So it is too with climate denial.  Now it is truly beyond reasonable doubt that the injustice perpetrated by humanity has damaged the balance of the Earth, to the extent that 80% or more of the human population have experienced unprecedented extremes of one sort or another.  The toll of wildlife on whom we’re only just beginning to understand how much we depend, has been far higher. 

photo credit David Coleman

I’m proud to be part of a church which has so formally recognised both the profound truth of diversity as a blessing rather than difference as a curse as expressed in today’s readings.  We need a more wholesome and inclusive appreciation of the family of Creation leading on from 1 John. This family, sharing so much down to a cellular level,  whom we certainly “do see”, and who likewise enjoys the God-given habitat which churches have called our “Common Home.”  

Whatever we do to the Earth, we do to Christ who is incarnate therein.  Is it mere foolishness, or is it even a religious offence to deceive yourself, a church, or a nation, that ‘God looks away’ when actions are wantonly promoted or passed without hesitation, which are known to harm neighbours human and non-human alike?

These things are not ‘opinion’. What to do about them is opinion. “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” [Philip K Dick]

Prayer

Holy Wisdom, speak once more in ways
which penetrate our blinkers, goggles, armour.

Break down those prison walls that claim protection
in the privilege of race and species.

Let the last – despised, evicted,
be the first to speak the truth  we need.

Humble that ‘wisdom of the world’
which for profit violates and trashes
the home God gives as much to fellow creatures
as to us.  Amen