St Luke 13: 1 – 5
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.  Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

Reflection
Even for people of faith, the times of Jesus and his teaching can seem remote and buried in the realms of antiquity. We can feel a real sense of the remoteness of a bygone age and disconnected from the cultural context in which Jesus lived and breathed.

But there are occasions, like the one captured in today’s verses, when we gain a potent entry into the contemporary world of the gospel. We are suddenly viscerally present, and given an insight into everyday life and events. Here we read of two incidents that might have merited some column inches in today’s newspapers because of their topicality.

First, some people in the crowd mention to Jesus the breaking news about some Galileans who had presumably made a riotous assembly or staged a demonstration against the Romans, and were summarily massacred at the orders of Pilate. Jesus also refers to another event making the news, a local disaster when a tower fell and killed eighteen people. As with today, when such events occur the public reflect upon their meaning and significance – why these things happen and the innocence or otherwise of the victims.

Using these incidents, Jesus’ message is uncompromising. He says that his listeners are preoccupied with debate about whether these people deserved their fates, but give scant thought to their own sinful actions and their consequences. The victims of tragedy, whether of the vindictive severity of Pilate or to an unforeseeable accident, are no more sinners and deserving of their fate than his listeners. However, Jesus alerts them that such occurrences are a salutary reminder that unless they repent the whole nation is heading for a more comprehensive disaster.

In our current world, we are living in febrile times when cataclysms of natural disasters, war, pandemics, and political upheaval beset us. During such disturbances we also tend to wonder what on earth is going on and to take stock of our lives. Rather than be sucked into questions of blame and consequence, we do better to remember that this is God’s world and to find comfort and solace in relationship with him.

Prayer
Lord,
we live in difficult and troubling times;
where previous certainties are disappearing;
life seems increasingly precarious;
disturbing events make us feel vulnerable;
…and we worry:
for ourselves;
our loved ones,
our fellow citizens
and the peoples of the world.
As we struggle to make sense of all this
be with us and enfold us in your loving arms.
Amen.

St Luke 12: 57 – 59

‘And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? Thus, when you go with your accuser before a magistrate, on the way make an effort to settle the case, or you may be dragged before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.’

Reflection

About 40 verses earlier and a week of Daily Devotions ago Jesus was asked to settle a legal case between two brothers. “Who sent me to be judge over you?” asked Jesus, who talked instead about the futility of greed. Several stories have followed about using our knowledge and weighing up ideas for ourselves, and now the legal theme returns. “Why do you not judge for yourself what is right?”

Is Jesus still speaking to the same brothers? He is speaking to the same crowd who have been considering the indolence of flowers, the servant wisdom of being ready for the return of a master, and the folk wisdom by which we could forecast the weather.  Can they not, also, use their own judgement in knowing right and wrong? We are the descendants of the first Adam, and Eve, who ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Can we dare to admit their legacy and apply some wisdom?

And there is the problem. As those who are able to tell right from wrong, we have to admit we are in trouble. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8) and tempting though that self-deception is, it does not satisfy even self-examination. And if we know we are in the wrong, then we should imagine ourselves as the debtor who would be wise to settle out of court rather than face the enforcement of a debt, and legal costs on top.  

Fortunately, we do not have to reckon with an accuser/ Satan figure/ or holy prosecutor to acknowledge our debt burden before God. We reckon with Jesus, who was indeed sent to be judge over us, but will also be the one to plead our case. We may dare to admit our truest assessment of ourselves to Jesus, and receive his forgiveness, if only we will let him.

Prayer

God of all goodness,
be with us as we reckon with right and wrong.
Help us to honestly account for ourselves before you and with others, 
and to make amends with those whom we have wronged.
Amen

Save me, O God,
for the waters have risen to my neck.

I have sunk into the mud of the deep
and there is no foothold.
I have entered the waters of the deep
and the waves overwhelm me.

I am wearied with all my crying,
my throat is parched.
My eyes are wasted away
from looking for my God.

More numerous than the hairs on my head
are those who hate me without cause.
Those who attack me with lies
are too much for my strength.

How can I restore
what I have never stolen?
O God, you know my sinful folly;
my sins you can see.

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame
through me, Lord of hosts:
let not those who seek you be dismayed
through me, God of Israel.

It is for you that I suffer taunts,
that shame covers my face,
that I have become a stranger to my family,
an alien to my brothers and sisters.
I burn with zeal for your house
and taunts against you fall on me.

When I afflict my soul with fasting
they make it a taunt against me.
When I put on sackcloth and mourning
then they make me a byword,
the gossip of folk at the gates,
the subject of drunkard’s songs.

This is my prayer to you,
my pray for your favour.
In your great love, answer me, O God,
with your help that never fails;
rescue me from sinking in the mud,
save me from my foes.

Save me from the waters of the deep
lest the waves overwhelm me.
Do not let the deep engulf me
nor death close its mouth on me.

Lord, answer, for your love is kind;
in your compassion, turn towards me.
Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly for I am in distress.
Come close to my soul and redeem me;
ransom me pressed by my foes.

You know how they taunt and deride me;
my oppressors are all before you.
Taunts have broken my heart;
I have reached the end of my strength.
I looked in vain for compassion, for consoles;
not one could I find.

For food they gave me poison;
in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Let their table be a snare to them
and their festive banquets a trap.
Let their eyes grow dim and blind;
let their limbs tremble and shake.

Pour out your anger upon them,
let the heat of your fury overtake them.
Let their camp be left desolate;
let no one dwell in their tents:
for they persecute one whom you struck;
they increase the pain of one you wounded.

Charge them with guilt upon guilt;
let them never be found just in your sight.
Blot them out from the book of the living;
do not enrol them among the just.
As for me in my poverty and pain,
let your help, O God, lift me up.

I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
A gift pleasing God more than oxen,
more than beasts prepared for sacrifice.

The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
Let the heavens and the earth give him praise,
the sea and all its living creatures.

For God will bring help to Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah
and men shall dwell there in possession.
The children of his servants shall inherit it;
those who love his name shall dwell there.

Reflection  Psalm 69 – The Psalm of Struggle.
 
This Psalm weaves a wonderful tapestry of emotion. It challenges us to bring our imperfect selves into our relationship with God.
 
The first sentence describes David’s raw emotion, which reflects his desperation. The image of him drowning in that situation evokes a sense of urgency and attests to the depth of his overwhelm.  As the Psalm unfolds, he describes vividly the hopelessness and isolation he felt as under weight of undeserved injustice.  Yet, among it all, David saw a spark of hope in the divine assistance he was seeking. Amid his overwhelm, he knew he could call out to God, share his suffering, and pray for an end to injustice.
 
It feels flippant to suggest that this is the key to ending all of our pain as easily as that. This Psalm is not that. Instead, it challenges us to call out to God and dares us to hope in these experiences. Do we speak to God about situations or people that are causing us pain, or do we follow the very human path of trying to handle it ourselves until we realise we can’t manage this alone? It feels like that is what David has done here, given the desperation shown in his opening line, which might suggest that he was at his wits end. 
 
The trouble is that feelings are scary; they can make us feel vulnerable and alone. Vulnerability is a difficult word even to read, let alone be! Yet, these times often are our greatest spaces of learning and growth.  When we run out of our own fight, we meet God and God meets us.
 
David showed his vulnerability before God; he laid his feelings bare and asked God to help. Jesus showed his vulnerability in the Garden of Gethsemane. Arguably, two of the biggest characters in the Bible show us that there is strength in vulnerability.  If only, we could just let go and ask for help.  David did … but can we?

Prayer

Dear God,
 
Please help us to be able to meet you in prayer 
in the times when we feel vulnerable, 
as David did in this Psalm.  
Be our light when our words fail us.
Be our compass when we don’t know which way to go.
Be our comfort when all feels lost.
Amen

St Luke 12: 54 – 56

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

Reflection

So, after a run of warnings and reassurances, some in stories, some in straight talking  … well mostly warnings if we’re honest … Jesus pulls it together with words that rung hard then, and continue to ring so today.

I hear the expression ‘It’s common sense’ frequently (often by politicians and those commenting on the political situation) and have long come to the conclusion that there is no such thing. My version of what is common sense, is so very different from that of others. 

And yet, is that not, effectively what Jesus is saying here? 

“Use your brain, your eyes, your experience, friends. If you’ve been listening to what I’ve just been saying it should be blindingly obvious how you should respond! You should use the same mechanism you use when you see rain clouds or other familiar weather signs? Based upon your life experience and your basic intelligence … your common sense if you insist … for goodness sake, look at the signs of the times, weave in the teaching I have been sharing with your and … put it into action?”

I look around at the world in turmoil, a climate crisis, a challenging economy and at times I just want to scream exactly those words. Instead, I put on my ‘hopeful hat’ and pray instead.

I remember a dear man once saying to me, “I mean, if we really took the Gospel seriously, we would behave differently, behave better … but …”

Perhaps it is time to actually listen to the teaching and warnings and behave differently, behave better … and drop the ‘buts’! 

Prayer 

Jesus, we’re not weather forecasters but we can see the signs in the sky.
We’re not world leaders, but can see that the wars, 
conflicts and inhumanity being meted out across the globe are wrong.
We are not experts in climate change or economics, but we can see that there has to be a better way.
Teach us and others to not just read the signs, but to seek to do things your way. 
Amen.

St Luke 12: 49-53

Jesus said ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!  I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!  Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!  From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;  they will be divided:

father against son
    and son against father,
mother against daughter
    and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
    and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

Reflection

My husband is really bad at Valentine’s day. Not even a garage bought, last minute panic, card. If you asked, they would offer some defence about showing me they love me everyday (which to be fair they do) and about prioritizing our marriage even when there are other things going on. Fine, but a girl still likes to get chocolates and a card on February 14th!
 
I wonder how many Valentine’s cards have been sent with today’s verse on them? I’m guessing not many.  Division is part of our usual, comfortable, February 14th vocabulary. Love though is not always comfortable, and perhaps love of Christ is a dividing line of sorts.  A division not created by hatred or bias, but of a deep and holy love. Love tempered in a fire, burning away impurities, heating lukewarm faith, love standing firm in its truth. Love after all, is not always comfortable, and love can be costly.
 
Today we are reminded that loving and following Jesus  as disciples is not always comfortable, and comes at a cost. It means prioritising living for Jesus even when it feels uncomfortable.  It means walking the way even when it’s uphill, uncomfortable and raining. Being a disciple even when it causes division from our friends or family. Letting our faith be refined in the fire.
 
Perhaps my husband has it right, discipleship like a marriage is a covenant of commitment, love and sacrifice every day. They both demand loyalty and devotion, even when division occurs.  Whatever our relationship status, Gods love is eternal and steadfast.
 
Prayer

Loving God,
You call us into a relationship with you
wholehearted, steadfast and devoted.
Help us to embrace discipleship
despite division or discomfort.
Kindle the flames in our hearts
and refine us to burn brightly.

Amen

 

St Luke 12: 41 – 48

Peter said, ‘Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?’ And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives.  Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.  But if that slave says to himself, “My master is delayed in coming”, and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk,  the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful.  That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating.  But one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.

Reflection

The compilers of the Revised Common Lectionary, which many of our churches use, didn’t include this passage in the cycle of readings.  Perhaps they felt it duplicated the ‘stay alert’ message in the previous section – or perhaps the idea that the master would cut the delinquent servant in pieces was just too gruesome.  But there are at least two ways that this passage develops the thinking in the previous one.  First, the idea that not only the slave who knew what the master wanted would be punished, but also one who didn’t know would be beaten (albeit to a lesser extent).  And second, the escalating requirement in the last sentence that even more will be demanded from those entrusted with much.

The idea that ignorance is no defence strikes a particular chord as I reflect on the failings of those with power to be sufficiently curious.  Leaders who ignore safeguarding concerns.  Managers who ignore whistleblowers, or don’t collect or analyse data to understand what is really happening.  Sexual abuse, the infected blood scandal, Grenfell, systemic medical treatment failures and many more owe much to people who should have asked more questions and taken more action.

And the challenge is amplified with the closing sentiment.  In such a context, who would want to step up to leadership?  Lest we get too comfortable blaming bishops/CEOs/politicians or others, we should remember that Luke emphasises that much is required of everyone – and we all benefit from God’s grace, no matter what gifts and talents we may have, and how we are each called to use them.  Are you sufficiently curious?  Are you living with the knowledge that something isn’t quite right?  Are you doing all you can to make it right?  I suspect I’m not the only one unable to answer all three questions ‘yes’.

Prayer

Lord,
We remember that from a young age you were curious;
You debated the law with the teachers in the Temple,
You engaged with Samaritans and people outside respectable society.

We confess that sometimes we don’t ask the questions we should.
We don’t face up to situations that aren’t right.
We don’t truly repent and act to make things better.

Help us to regain the curiosity we had as children.
Help us to be brave when it is hard to ask questions.
Help us live up to the grace you have given us.

Amen.

 

St Luke 12: 22 – 34

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.  For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?  If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest?  Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!  And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.  Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Reflection

The choice facing Jesus’s followers, then and now, seems stark: either worry about food and clothing, or trust in God and prioritise God’s kingdom. Yesterday’s devotion explored a parable about a rich man with his priorities the wrong way round. He stored up grain and goods for himself but neglected to ask what God wanted him to do with them. It didn’t end well. 
 
In today’s passage, Jesus extends the meaning of the parable: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” This is no charter for self-neglect; it is about re-ordering our priorities in two ways.
 
First, we are to notice the wonderful way that God provides for his creatures in the natural world. “Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.” By contrast with the rich fool in the preceding parable who built bigger barns for his bumper crop and then promptly died; the ravens have no barns, and yet God feeds them and enables them to thrive. If God provides for creatures like ravens, how much more will God provide for human creatures. The choice is ours: worry, or trust in God.
 
Second, Jesus calls us to prioritise God’s kingdom, which is closely aligned with trusting in God. If we prioritise God’s reign of justice, and trust in God to provide, we will more readily share food and clothing with those who don’t have enough (Luke 3:11). Another example for the Church: rather than selling redundant church property to the highest bidder; sell it instead to a housing trust to convert it into affordable and ecologically sustainable housing for the poor (for example, see https://housingjustice.org.uk). To prioritise God’s kingdom, means recognising that the life of human beings, animals, plants and the environment are interconnected, and all depend on God.
 
Prayer
 
O God of abundant provision,
we confess the temptation to place our trust
in possessions, bank balances, and pensions.
Remind us that all things in this wonderfully interconnected world 
depend on you, our Creator.
Help us to work for your equitable kingdom,
in which all have enough and thrive
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Luke 12: 13 – 21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’  But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’  And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’  Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly.  And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”  But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

Reflection

Here’s a surprise. Jesus tells another of his parable stories – but this time God is given a walk-on part.

The other character, who seems to be all too human, has plenty to say for himself, though apparently only to himself. He has a problem to be solved, but he’s going to find the solution unaided. Talking to his neighbours might have led to a different conclusion: no doubt they’d have been quick to point out to him the knock-on effects on the wider community of his grandiose building project, and his decision to hold back his abundant harvest from the open market. But since he’s talking only to himself, the economic arguments have carried  all the weight.

So again we note Jesus’s keen insight and knowledge, not only of the ways of agribusiness, but also the ways of our human nature. We’re so liable to make even our own insignificant everyday decisions on the basis of our own comfort and self-enrichment. Matters like where and how we shop and how we spend our modest wealth can have consequences way beyond our immediate circle. As for today’s rich landowners and the burgeoning billionaires’ clubs, they might stop to listen to Jesus’s story too.

Because in the end, after all our self-justifying inner conversations, God has a word to say to us too. Fewer words than ours, but cutting to the heart of the matter. God, who I like to think knows each of us by name, is a bit harsh in his mode of address.  “You fool!” The Psalmist reckoned that the fool says in his heart “There is no God.” Which is rather the way the man in the story has been thinking and acting. Better be listening for God from the beginning, and things could turn out very differently!

Prayer

So often I’ve too much to say for myself
and too much to say to myself.
Help me, God, to widen the conversation
and to be listening for your voice
however disconcerting and unwelcome
it may sometimes prove.  Amen

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Neil Thorogood

 
Welcome 

Hello. My name is Neil Thorogood, and it is my joy and privilege to welcome you to our worship from the United Reformed Church today. I am the minister of two congregations in the South Western Synod. Thornbury URC is in a market town outside Bristol. Trinity-Henleaze URC is in a Bristol suburb. As we come together wherever we are, we gather to worship God. So let us take a moment to be still and to acknowledge God’s presence as our worship begins.

Call to Worship

We give thanks to you, O God, with all our hearts. We join with your people of all places and ages as we bring our praise. We come to worship because we rejoice in your love and faithfulness. We come to worship because your steadfast love endures for ever.

Hymn     Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
John Greenleaf Whittier (1872) Public Domain Sung by the choir of St Bartholomew’s New York.

Dear Lord and Father of mankind, 
forgive our foolish ways;
re-clothe us in our rightful mind,
in purer lives thy service find,
in deeper reverence praise.

In simple trust like theirs who heard, 
beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord,
let us, like them, without a word
rise up and follow thee.

Drop thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of thy peace.

Breathe through the heats of our desire
thy coolness and thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire;
speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still small voice of calm.
 
Prayers of Approach and Confession 

Who are we, God of all, to come before you?
Who are we, bringing our fickle faithfulness and our fragile lives?
Who are we to dare to pray in praise and confession? Who are we today?

We are your children, gathered as your people. We are named amidst the countless hosts you have called and blessed across history; so it is that we bring our deepest thankfulness, so it is that we join our songs to the worship of ages and angels, so it is that we belong here, pray here, believe here, trust here.

All this can be because you are. All this can be because, in Jesus, 
you have come to find us, sought us out, brought us home.
All this can be because your Spirit is your passionate presence in our hearts; weaving our many lives into your one great and beautiful chorus of praise.

We need you, dear God! 
How we need your presence, and the promises you share!  
For all is not well within us or amongst us.
Our lives break with the sadness and shame
of things done and left undone,
words spoken without thoughtfulness or silence 
held without the courage to speak.
We share in sins that shatter creation, 
tear communities and nations apart 
and trap so many in lives without hope or dignity or safety.
Forgive us, merciful God.
Help us to change, and to trust that change can happen 
everywhere as your will is done.
Heal us of the hurt we hold.
Help us to grow in trust and hope 
as we let Jesus change everything for us.
We believe he died for us.
We believe he took upon himself all the brokenness of creation, 
undoing all that steals life away.
Give us a new start and fresh courage, strength and hope to follow him.
We ask, in the name of Jesus, 
and in the power of the Spirit he shares. Amen.

Declaration of Forgiveness

We believe as the apostles believed:
“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance,
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…”
Through the cross and empty tomb, our sins are forgiven,
our shame is washed away and new life has come.
Thanks be to God. Amen.  

Prayer for Illumination

Thank you for the gift of these ancient words,
treasured and shared down through the ages.
May they become for us your Word of life today. Amen.

Hymn     With Grateful Heart My Thanks I Bring (Psalm 138)
Psalter Hymnal 1912 Public Domain sung by Brian Cochran

With grateful heart my thanks I bring,
before the great your praise I sing;
I worship in your holy place
and praise you for your truth and grace;
for truth and grace together shine
in your most holy word divine,
in your most holy word divine.

I cried to you, and you did save;
your word of grace new courage gave;
the kings of earth shall thank you, Lord,
for they have heard your wondrous word;
yea, they shall come with songs of praise,
for great and glorious are your ways,
for great and glorious are your ways.
 
O Lord, enthroned in glory bright, 
you reign above in heav’nly height;
the proud in vain your favour seek 
but you have mercy for the meek;
through trouble though my pathway be,
you will revive and strengthen me,
you will revive and strengthen me.

You will stretch forth your mighty arm
to save me when my foes alarm;
the work you have for me begun
shall by your grace be fully done;
your mercy shall forever be;
O Lord, my Maker, think on me,
O Lord, my Maker think on me.
 
Reading     St Luke 5: 1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Sermon

On Saturday, 6th May 2023, King Charles III and Queen Camilla were crowned amidst plenty of pomp and circumstance in Westminster Abbey. If you read the order of service for that day, you find a moment that our Psalmist this morning would have appreciated. It came almost at the very start, a moment that set the context for all that would follow. It was the same starting point for many previous coronations in Westminster Abbey, including for Queen Elizabeth II, mother of Charles. The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland presented a Bible to Charles. As he did so, he spoke these words:  “Sir, to keep you ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, receive this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.” The most valuable thing that this world affords.

We hear the echo of our Psalm: “All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord.” Moments don’t come much grander than coronations. But at the very moment when a king is being crowned, he is given the Bible and reminded that the Bible is the treasure above and beyond every other treasure. Here is the most valuable thing that this world affords. You can wear a crown, live in palaces, reign over millions of people, be head of the Commonwealth and supreme head of the Church of England, lead the armed forces, accept Prime Ministers, be revered and honoured across the world. You can be surrounded by the finest of things and the most dutiful of people. But remember, be ever mindful, that this book is worth more than everything else put together. Remember that in this book there is power beyond any power any monarch ever wields. The Bible sets the context for every coronation. Here is Wisdom; this is the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God.

In different ways across our churches, we echo a similar devotion. Some of our churches, including the two I minister in, begin worship with the Bible being carried in to be left open during the service as a sign that we have gathered around God’s word and want to hear it read and preached. As worship concludes, the Bible is carried out to symbolise that we leave worship carrying God’s Word within us into the life of the world. The Bible shapes much of our worship, its words and concepts shaping much of our praying and finding expression in our hymns and music. We handle the Bible this way to remind ourselves that we, just as much as the King, are people of this book. We choose to remain mindful that this book is the greatest treasure in the world.

But how is the Bible a treasure? Certainly, it contains some amazing words. But, if we’re honest, doesn’t it also contain stuff that isn’t very easy to read or understand or apply? One of the most fatal things I’ve found in my life with the Bible is trying to read it systematically from cover to cover. There are some fabulous passages but, goodness me, there are some dry and dusty pages! And there are plenty of bits I personally can wish had never been included!

I don’t know what the Bible means to you, or how well things like Bible study are enjoyed in the congregations that you know. My experience is that we might not be quite so excited about digging up this treasure as we could be. For many, inside and outside the Church the Bible can be an increasingly a closed book, a strange and foreign world. 

Often, I hear people saying that a reason why they aren’t particularly keen on Bible study, either on their own or with others, is precisely because they assume you have to study for years and years before you can even have something to say about the Bible. The Bible becomes a book that is really only a treasure for people who have devoted lifetimes to its study. Which is a terrible and ironic tragedy, given that our bit of the Christian tradition was born in the belief that the Bible needed to escape from only being in Latin; only being the preserve of the clergy. Instead, the Reformers translated Bibles into local languages inviting anyone who could read could read it. Let the treasure become everyone’s treasure to read and wrestle with.

So, how is the Bible the greatest treasure in the world? And what might that mean for me and for you? Perhaps, the Bible is treasure not because it contains profound words, although it does. Surely the Bible is treasure because it lets God come to us. It is the world’s greatest love letter. It shows God to the world that God made. The Bible is a beginning, for everyone, of a meeting and a friendship and a love that will never end, never fail, never be undone. That’s why one of the great struggles in Christian history became all about the language of the Bible: did it have to be in Latin so that only a few could read and interpret it, or could it be translated into every language so that anyone could read it or hear it and understand the words?

The Bible is never primarily about us, about how we read it, how often we read it, how clever we are in unpacking it, how passionate we are with it. The Bible is always primarily about God. About how God loves us and longs for us to know it.  

The Psalmist writes beautifully. But I do not think the Psalmist writes fiction when we read: “I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything. On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul… The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.”

God has touched the life of the Psalmist; God is real in the life of the Psalmist. And it is out of this experience that a Psalm is written. Fast forward to our text from Luke’s Gospel and the same is happening; God loves us and God longs for us to know it. Simon already knows Jesus. Just before the bit we read this morning, Jesus has gone to Simon’s house and healed his mother-in-law. On the beach that morning, Simon and his friends are cleaning their nets by their boats after a miserable night’s fishing in which they failed to catch anything. Jesus is already being followed by eager crowds. He speaks well. His reputation is growing. He gets Simon, possibly with his partners James and John the sons of Zebedee, to row out a little from the shore. Their boat becomes his floating pulpit. Jesus teaches. Presumably, Simon and the others can’t help but listen too.
Jesus knows Simon. Jesus knows Simon in ways Simon doesn’t yet know himself. Jesus knows, God knows, that Simon needs a little more than just the words of a fine teacher. “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Reluctantly, somewhat baffled by this carpenter who thinks he can teach them how to fish, the fishermen try again. And this time the nets overflow. And it is now, kneeling amongst the fish in his boat, that Simon begins to see. He is discovering heaven in the ordinary amongst the smell of the fish and the tang of the sea. Something is understood.

For Simon it becomes a frightening moment, because meeting God can so often make us feel so small, so vulnerable, so aware of how unholy we are: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” But here’s why the Bible is such treasure. The story has to be told that when God comes closer it is a move of sheer, abundant, unquenchable love: “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid…” The more we open the Bible, the more God promises to come close to us, to be revealed, to meet us and to show us that we do not need to be afraid. But there is even more!

If the Bible is a love letter and an invitation, it is also a compass. The Bible wants us to be travelling people, pilgrim people, people on a journey deep into the life of the world and never away from the world and all of its pain and possibility. Simon learns that he does not need to afraid. And then he learns that he can be someone he did not know he was: “’…from now on you will catch people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.’” Jesus comes to meet us where we are, in the boat, in the normal routine, where we live and work and play and love and linger. He meets us to bless us and to forgive us so that we do not need to be afraid. And he calls us, commissions us, invites us into becoming who God intends us to be. We can do this, and believe this, because the Bible tells us so.
The more we let the Bible be part of our lives, the more we let God speak into our hearts. That will often mean lots of questions and plenty of riddles. The joy of the Bible is that, as with Peter in his boat, the stories the Bible tells are of ordinary people being encountered by God and feeling confused, uncertain, afraid sometimes. But the Bible also overflows with joy and wonder as lives are transformed for good by the presence and work and call of God.

The story is often told about the great Swiss-German Reformed theologian Karl Barth. He was answering questions at the University of Chicago in 1962. Barth wrote very many, very big books about faith. So, one student asked him to summarise his theology in just one sentence. Barth responded with the truth he had been taught since he was a child. He said: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Of course, as well as being people of the book, we are people of the person. Our faith is much more than reading about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit and all those who are mentioned in the story. Our faith is all about each one of us having a personal sense of the presence of God in the world, and the call of Christ upon our lives, and the work of the Holy Spirit in our days. But the Bible, as the psalmist sings, helps us by letting us meet the God who made us, the Saviour who died and rose for us, the Spirit who helps us to believe and to follow.  No wonder, even for the King at his coronation, this book is the most valuable thing that the world affords. May it be our treasure too. Amen.  

Hymn     Would I have Answered When You Called
Herman G Stuempfle Jr, © 1997 GIA Publications OneLicence # A-734713. Performed by Ruth and Joy Everingham and used with their kind permission.

Would I have answered when you called, “Come, follow, follow me!”?
Would I at once have left behind both work and family?
Or would the old, familiar round have held me by its claim
and kept the spark within my heart from bursting into flame?
 
Would I have followed where you led through ancient Galilee,
on roads unknown, by ways untried, beyond security?
Or would I soon have hurried back where home and comfort drew,
where truth you taught would not disturb the ordered world I knew?

Would I have matched my step with yours when crowds cried, “Crucify!”
When on a rocky hill I saw a cross against the sky?
Or would I too have slipped away and left you there alone,
a dying king with crown of thorns upon a terrible throne?
 
O Christ, I cannot search my heart through all its tangled ways,
nor can I with a certain mind my steadfastness appraise.
I only pray that when you call, “Come, follow, follow me!”
you’ll give me strength beyond my own to follow faithfully.

Prayers of Intercession

Jesus, you came and found Simon in his world;
the waves and the breeze and the gulls, 
the smells of fish and the charcoal fire,
the fishermen at work on their nets and the crowds pressing forward.
You found him where he was, 
and changed the world for Simon and James and John and their families.
Now it’s our turn.
We bring to you all that we are and all that we carry.
We come with hopes, and we come with sadness.
We come with a world around us and within us so in need of your transforming touch.
Hear us, we pray, just as you heard Simon’s fears.
We pray for places and people devastated by violence;
where wars continue to rage,
where streets remain unsafe,
where workplaces, homes and social media hide abuse.
We pray for places and people condemned to injustice and poverty;
where lands no longer produce crops,
where systems become inhuman,
where power is used to corrupt and coerce.
We pray for places and people burdened by sickness and sadness;
where care is at breaking point,
where healing is slow and difficult,
where death is coming closer.
We pray for churches everywhere, and the churches dear to us;
where worship and prayer are faithful,
where welcome and outreach are generous,
where challenges and burdens are real.
We pray for ourselves, and those on our hearts this day;
where life has been blessed,
where life has turned difficult,
where the future feels uncertain.
In all of these complex, 
beautiful and risky places and moments, dear Lord,
come close, we pray.
Bring your healing and your help.
Hold your aching world and give strength to those we pray for.
We ask it as you have taught us to,
trusting that you hear, and care, and act. Amen.

Offertory

We now bring to God our offering, in thankfulness for the gifts we have received.

Let us pray,
God of goodness and love,
you have gifted to us the wonders of your world 
and the possibility for life.
We now offer back to you something of the blessing we have received.
Take and use all that we can offer for your work and to your glory.
Amen.

Hymn     Sing Hey for the Carpenter
John L. Bell & Graham Maule © 1987, Iona Community, GIA Publications One Licence # A-734713   Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir accompanied by Andrew Ellams. Produced by Rev’d Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.
 
Come with me, come wander, come welcome the world
where strangers might smile or where stones may be hurled;
come leave what you cling to, lay down what you clutch
and find, with hands empty, that hearts can hold much.

Sing hey for the carpenter leaving his tools!
Sing hey for the pharisees leaving their rules!
Sing hey for the fishermen leaving their nets!
Sing hey for the people who leave their regrets!

Come walk in my company, come sleep by my side,
come savour a lifestyle with nothing to hide;
come sit at my table and eat with my friends,
discovering that love which the world never ends.

Sing hey for the carpenter leaving his tools!
Sing hey for the pharisees leaving their rules!
Sing hey for the fishermen leaving their nets!
Sing hey for the people who leave their regrets!

Come share in my laughter, come close to my fears,
come find yourself washed with the kiss of my tears;
come stand close at hand while I suffer and die
and find in three days how I never will lie.

Sing hey for the carpenter leaving his tools!
Sing hey for the pharisees leaving their rules!
Sing hey for the fishermen leaving their nets!
Sing hey for the people who leave their regrets!

Come leave your possessions, come share out your treasure,
come give and receive without method or measure;
come loose every bond that’s resisting the Spirit,
enabling the earth to be yours to inherit.
 
Sing hey for the carpenter leaving his tools!
Sing hey for the pharisees leaving their rules!
Sing hey for the fishermen leaving their nets!
Sing hey for the people who leave their regrets!

Blessing

May the Spirit bless, empower and guide us 
as we travel on in the way of Christ.
May the hope and vision we have shared together 
sustain us in the days ahead.
May the songs of praise not fall silent as Sunday becomes Monday.
May our prayers and our work as God’s people continue.
And may God go with us, each and every one of us, 
now and for ever. Amen.

St Luke 12: 4 – 12

Jesus said: ‘I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.  But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.  But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God;  but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God.  And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say;  for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.’

Reflection

I don’t really believe in ‘a place’ called Hell – but that’s a conversation for another time.

For now, I am struck by Jesus’ words in the opening lines of this text:  ‘Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more… fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into Hell.’  That is uncomfortable reading – even for someone like me, who lives in relative safety.  I always try to have my wits about me, but I am not usually confronting anyone or anything that is seeking to hurt me, let alone kill me.  Yet, I look around at our world and it seems there are too many who presume – and exercise – the power to kill the bodies of countless people; those who seem committed to wiping out whole swathes of humanity.  It seems a very BIG ask for those in the line of fire not to be afraid.

Jesus urges his listeners to fear the one who ‘has authority to cast into hell’ – but I think there are many people living in the midst of ‘hell’- right here, right now, right before our eyes.  True, those who have been killed are now beyond hurt – but I can’t begin to imagine the trauma for those left behind, whose loved ones have been wiped out, whose worlds have been decimated, who don’t know whether or when they will be next.  What is this, if not hell? 

Jesus reminds us that not one sparrow is forgotten in God’s sight.  Not one strand of hair!  But I don’t know how comforting that is if you live in the middle of destruction and death.  I don’t know how comforting I find it even from the safety of outside looking in!  

So, I find myself wrestling with my understanding of God, of faith, and the realities of our world.  And the truth is, sometimes the three just don’t hang together. 

At times like that, what else can I do but pray? 

Prayer

God, who is love,
We know you love every one of your people.
Rescue those who are forced to negotiate the depths of hell.
Thwart the plans of those who exercise power through violence.  
And equip us all with compassion and courage  
To be agents of your justice
And instruments of your peace.  Amen