Wednesday, 7 February 2024 The Rev’d Peter Moth

Wednesday, 7 February 2024

St Mark 6: 14 – 29

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’  But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’  But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’ For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her.  For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’  And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed;  and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee.  When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’  And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’  She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’  Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’  The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her.  Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,  brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.  When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Reflection

As Mark tells the story, this seems a strange interlude in the beginnings of Jesus’s ministry. Mark, usually eager to press on with the story of Jesus, with his constant repetition of “straightway” as he urges the disciples on from one parable to the next while the increasing crowds gathering to him are hard-pressed to get a meal, never mind a rest. Mark tells the story of John’s death almost in the style of the Arabian Nights – a tale of gossip and intrigue, death and disaster, set in the sumptuous surroundings of Herod the Tetrarch’s palace. No, it’s not the Herod who massacred the infants at Bethlehem. It’s Herod the Tetrarch, Ruler of Galilee. Disentangling the relationships of the Herods and their various wives is quite a task, which I shall not undertake here. Sufficient to say that it was complicated and broke at least 2 of the 10 Commandments! 

John Baptist protested – loudly – he was not given much to silence! Herod, fascinated by John, but fearful of his rabble-rousing qualities arrests him, and the tragic outcome has been immortalised  by Mark, followed by Matthew and then briefly mentioned in Luke. The historian Josephus tells us that the young girl’s name was “Salome”, immortalised by Strauss and Wilde in music and drama. What a strange tale for a Gospel writer to offer. It is there as a reminder that power corrupts, that Jesus understood this and made sure that he would not be tainted by it. He remained with the people and not the Princes.

What Mark tells us is that power and politics, deceit and adultery, money and profit do not open the door to the Kingdom of Heaven which belongs to the poor and is where those who mourn shall be comforted.

Prayer

Strengthen us O God, to relieve the oppressed,
to hear the groans of poor prisoners,
to reform the abuses of all professions;
that many be made not poor to make a few rich;
for Jesus Christ’s sake.  Amen.

Oliver Cromwell

 

Tuesday, 6 February 2024 The Rev’d John Durell

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

St.Mark 6: 1 – 12

He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary  and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him.  Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’  And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching.  He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;  but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.  He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.  If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’  So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.  They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

Reflection

There’s been plenty of news about Jesus since he left town, but no one has set eyes on him. Except of course the anxious members of his family who went down to Capernaum looking for him – and probably they’ve been keeping that awkward interview to themselves. So there is a real air of excitement in synagogue this sabbath morning.

And it’s not just Jesus who grabs everyone’s attention. Mark tells us that his disciples have followed him here: that’s a couple of extra pews full! Even before he starts speaking, people are asking what can have happened to Jesus the carpenter, the lad they’ve known all his life, to turn him into such a compelling figure – a rabbi everyone wants to know and follow.

We of course are in the know. Mark has given us all the details of what happened to Jesus as soon as he left home, starting with his baptism in the Jordan, and the heavenly voice affirming his new life direction. So there’s an easy answer to the question “Where did this man get all this?”, but it’s not one that the people of Nazareth are likely to work out for themselves. Even his own family have been in two minds about him.

The brief mention here of the brothers and sisters is as much as we ever learn about them. We can imagine them sitting together, as extended families sometimes do in our own congregations. Hearing the buzz of conversations around them, they realise that Jesus’s home-coming isn’t going to be the triumphant occasion that they might have been hoping for.

And Mark has to tell us that even Jesus could experience failure. No miracles today in Nazareth! A warning then for us, his followers, to be prepared for disappointments as we too try to share the Good News.

Prayer

Loving God, give us confidence
to speak for you and about you,
not looking for honour and praise ourselves.

And give us grace to bear disappointment
when our words are not heard or heeded,
putting ourselves and all things into your good hands.

Daily Devotion for Monday 5th February 2024

St Mark 5: 21 – 43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat  to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake.  Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.  Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years.  She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 

She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,  for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’  Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.  Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’  And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?”’  He looked all round to see who had done it.  But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.  He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’  He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.  When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly.  When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’  And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.  He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’  And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement.  He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Reflection

At first glance we see the contrasts in these 2 stories of healing, which Mark cleverly weaves together. There is a much-cherished young girl, and an older woman, alone and afraid. The family of the girl are desperate in their grief, the father shockingly throwing himself to the ground, putting his status aside pleading for his daughter’s life. The older woman, alone, hides herself in the crowd -she shouldn’t be out in society, yet she dares everything to get to Jesus.

Look closer and there are more similarities between these unnamed women and the way in which Jesus breaks though barriers to bring them both healing and new life.

Both women are classed as dead. The older woman has spent all her money trying cures, but the bleeding which defiles her in that society at that time has made it impossible for her to live. The young woman’s funeral has already started as Jesus arrives.

Through Jesus, both women experience the resurrection power of God. The healing they receive through faith restores them both to life. Each of them, though unnamed, receives Jesus’ full concern. It is important to Jesus to know who touched him, although it seems impossible in the crowd. Jesus legitimises the woman’s desperate act. She is afraid but he accepts her with love and affirms her faith.

The young woman is woken gently.  Jesus, disregarding the noisy mourners, and the risk of touching a corpse, thinks only of the girl, speaking to her tenderly and seeing she has food.

This is the heart of God’s love for us, that we too can be restored to life whoever we are, whatever our circumstances. The power of the resurrection can be seen today, living, working in our world. Thanks be to God for this gift beyond words.
 
Prayer

Living God,
Your life-giving love restores us.
When we need you
You break through all obstacles,
loving us as we are,
You banish fear and doubt
With a gentle touch.
Be with us today,
Amen

Sunday Worship 4 February 2024

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston

 Welcome

Hello and welcome to worship.  As we get older, we worry that we forget things – and I’m pretty sure electronic diaries make matters worse!  We hear today of Isaiah’s concern that his fellow believers had forgotten the marvellous deeds of God – deeds with our Psalmist extols God for.  We hear St Paul remind his readers in Corinth of his rights, which he doesn’t assert, as he does not wish to hinder the Gospel.  We too want to remember God’s marvellous deeds and play our part as Christians that others come to know God’s loving kindness.  My name is Andy Braunston and I am the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship.  I live up in Orkney, a land of winter gales and glorious summers.  I’m a member of the Peedie Kirk URC here which is where I’m leading worship from today. Let’s worship God together.

Call to Worship

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?  The Eternal One sits above all creation and stretches the heavens out as a curtain; God brings the mighty to naught and reminds them they are as dust blown away in the storm.  
We wait on the Sovereign One who shall renew our strength.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?  The Most High cannot be compared to another; God has no equal.  God is great in strength and mighty in power.  
We wait on the Sovereign One who shall renew our strength.

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning?  The Mighty one grows not faint nor weary and empowers the weak with loving kindness. 
We wait on the Sovereign One who shall renew our strength.

Hymn     Thou Whose Almighty Word
John Marriott (1780-1825) Public Domain  Sung by St. John’s Episcopal Church, Boulder; assembled and produced by Tom Morgan, Music Director.  
 
Thou, whose almighty word
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight:
hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the gospel-day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light!

Thou who didst came to bring
on thy redeeming wing
healing and sight,
health to the sick in mind,
sight to the inly blind:
now to all humankind
let there be light!
 
Spirit of truth and love,
life-giving holy Dove,
speed on thy flight!
Move on the waters’ face
bearing the lamp of grace
and, in earth’s darkest place,
let there be light!

Holy and blessed Three,
glorious Trinity,
wisdom, love, might:
boundless as ocean’s tide
rolling in fullest pride
through the world far and wide,
let there be light!
 
Prayers of Approach, Confession and Forgiveness

Holy and blessed Three,
we bring you our thanks and praise today,
we remember all that you have done for us and bring you our gratitude.

We praise you for our freedom to worship,
remembering it was once denied us – 
as it is for so many around the world.

We thank you for the ability to challenge and question the way things are,
remembering how our forebears suffered for that right –
as many still suffer today.

We marvel at our freedoms to love and live,
and remember those hard won battles –
knowing that many battles are still to come.

Lord Jesus, by eschewing power you brought healing and light,
but we prefer darkness and despair;
by standing on the edge of society you showed us how to see,
yet we prefer to close our eyes to suffering;
on your redeeming wing we find delight and freedom,
but we prefer the bondage of sin.
Heal and forgive us O Lord, and give us time to change.  

Most Holy Spirit,
live-giving spirit of truth and love,
speed on your flight and bathe us in your loving kindness
that we accept the forgiveness you offer,
find the courage to forgive others,
and the grace to forgive ourselves.  Amen!

Introduction

Our readings today deal with issues of memory and freedom.  Isaiah tried to reassure his people in the aftermath of exile of God’s loving care – something they’d forgotten in their trauma.  Writing in a similar era the Psalmist gives thanks for God and, in the midst of praise, reminds the people of the things God has done – and things they should emulate.  Paul reminds the troublesome congregation in Corinth that he’d be entitled to be paid for his ministry but forsook a stipend in order not to be a hindrance to the proclamation of the Gospel.  Together these readings, which we hear and sing, remind us of God’s saving actions and our responsibilities as Christians.  Let’s pray to be illuminated as we listen for God’s word in these readings.

Prayer for Illumination

Open our hearts and minds, O God,
that as we hear your Word read and proclaimed
we may remember your great deeds,
and be inspired to serve you in our life together as church
and in our own individual lives.  Amen.

Reading     Isaiah 40: 21 – 31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Hymn     Fill Your Hearts With Joy and Gladness (Psalm 147)
Timothy Dudley Smith © 1984 Hope Publishing Company Printed and Podcast in accordance with the terms of OneLicence # A-734713  Performed by the Choir, Orchestra and Congregation of All Souls, Langham Place.  

Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,
sing and praise your God and mine!
Great the Lord in love and wisdom,
might and majesty divine!
He who framed the starry heavens
knows & names them as they shine!

Praise the Lord, his people, praise him!
Wounded souls his comfort know;
those who fear him find his mercies,
peace for pain and joy for woe;
humble hearts are high exalted,
human pride and power laid low.

Praise the Lord for times and seasons,
cloud and sunshine, wind and rain;
spring to melt the snows of winter
till the waters flow again;
grass upon the mountain pastures,
golden valleys thick with grain.

Fill your hearts with joy and gladness,
peace and plenty crown your days;
love his laws, declare his judgments,
walk in all his words and ways;
he the Lord and we his children:
praise the Lord, all people, praise!
 
Reading     1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Sermon

In J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire we’re introduced to a pensieve; a wide and shallow dish made of metal or stone, elaborately decorated, and inlaid with precious stones and carrying complex enchantments.  They are, Rowling, tells us rare and only used by powerful wizards because most wizards are afraid of using them.  Their purpose?  To collect spare memories.  The memories could be re-lived by others with access to the pensieve but they form a convenient place to store memories which get too much for ageing brains.  No longer able to claim to be in my mid 50s I think such an object would be a very useful addition to my tools.  I’ve prided myself on having a good memory, especially for faces, but now I’m not so sure!  With over 30 years of ministry behind me I’m starting to think I’ve forgotten more things than I’ve learned; having an academic interest in history means I’m aware of how much we’ve forgotten as a culture and a church.  A few months ago, a retired colleague told me she’d written a biography of a former principal of Westminster College, the Rev’d John Wood Oman.  Oman was born in Orkney, attended, as a child, a church I preach in regularly and went on to have a career as an academic theologian.  His work isn’t widely known – but he died almost 100 years ago – and he’s not very well known in Orkney, even in the members of the church he once worshipped in.  Such is the complexity of human memory that we forget what was once obvious.  Many of our churches have memorial plaques around them; I remember walking into a tiny village church in Kent where a part of my family are from and being surprised to see, on a war memorial, my surname.  Evidently, William Braunston, my great grandfather died in in the First World War.  My grandfather and father never knew him so there were no stories passed down about him, no memories just a marble plaque commemorating him and 12 others who came from a tiny mid Kent village and never returned.   Our readings today play with this idea of memory and couple it with ideas of freedom and obligation.

The writer of our Isaiah passage assumed that faith is built on memory – memory of God’s saving actions.  The writer assumes that when the collective memory of God’s actions fails so does the faith of the community.  Memory failure can be acute in times of crisis and the writer ministered in the difficult times of the 6th Century before Jesus with destruction and exile generating a crisis of confidence in the Jewish people.  

Did God really care for them?  
Was God really looking out for them?  
Does God really control the future?  

These were key questions for Isaiah’s exiled people and for us now when the collective memory of God fades even as the yearning for spirituality increases.  The people hadn’t forgotten God per se but believed He’d forgotten them – not surprising after their experience of bitter defeat and exile.  I’m sure many on the border of Ukraine and Russia wonder if God has forgotten them.  I wonder if Israelis rushing to shelter as missiles come flying in from Gaza wonder if God has forgotten His Chosen Ones; I’m sure the people of Gaza feel God has forsaken them as they huddle in refugee camps, hospitals and churches attacked with impunity by the Israeli Defence Forces.  

It’s not so much that the Jewish people in Isaiah’s time had forgotten God but had, instead, lost their faith in God’s loving care of them.  The writer’s approach was to remind the people of God’s loving kindness believing that in these memories would be found hope for the current crisis.  Babylon might be an immediate threat, but God’s power and love would outlast even the might of Babylon.  Just as we see God at work in creation, so God is at work in human affairs.  The powers of the age are no more than stubble to be burnt or chaff to be winnowed.  The people, at this time, had become overwhelmed by the crises of their age, crises that made them forget God’s grace and reliability; they’d forgotten the loving kindness of God.  The faint and powerless will receive help from God’s own hand, says Isaiah, if they just depend on God and remember God’s saving works.  

Dudley Smith’s rendering of Psalm 147, which we’ve just sung,  is probably the best, and most familiar, contemporary sung version but it’s a free reworking of the words of the Psalm and misses out the line about outcasts preferring the rather more vague “wounded souls.”  Like the Isaiah passage this Psalm begins and ends with God’s praise.  The command to praise is intertwined with the memories of God’s saving acts – and as such is paired beautifully with the Isaiah passage.  Scholars wonder if this Psalm was composed after the Exile and is, therefore, part of the national project to both remember God’s saving works and to rely again on God’s eternal sovereignty.  The Psalmist combines a jolly good hymn to enrich worship with some sturdy grounded ideas about the God who bandages and mends His people.  The God whom we laud is the one who gathers up the outcasts, heals the broken hearted and binds up wounds.  The one who determines the number of the stars and names them all is the one who lifts the downtrodden and casts the wicked to the ground.  We might, in these days of climate emergency, no longer think that God prepares the rains (humanity has changed the weather patterns so much we can’t blame God for the floods or the droughts) but with the Psalmist we know, and hope, that God takes pleasure in those who fear Him and trust in his steadfast love.  

Paul, in the passage from I Corinthians describes his central approach to his ministry – to proclaim the Gospel of his Lord and to attend to aspects of communal care which are the proper preserve of the Church.  In the verses leading up to this passage Paul established that, even though he didn’t push his rights, he would be entitled by social and religious norms to not to have to work for a living but live from the offerings of the community.  I must admit that as a stipendiary minister my hackles were raised at the idea that I don’t work for a living!   Instead, Paul decided to work for a living so as not to hinder the Gospel.  Paul cleverly mixes his images of being set free from sin – and his understanding of the Law – but at the same time living under the obligations of faith and fidelity to the Gospel.  He was set free to serve not to live the life of a libertine.  In becoming free he has become the slave of all – quite a powerful image in a world whose economic system depended on the enslavement of others.  Unlike the church in Corinth Paul realised that one could be unworthy of the Gospel; unlike those early Christians, and maybe unlike us, Paul realised we have to live out the pattern of Christ who came to serve not be served.  

So how might we weave together these ideas of memory, faith, God’s sovereignty, our freedom and obligations and human suffering?  Is there a resonance with the Isaiah passage for us?  In our age we have many crises – inflation may be down, but prices haven’t lowered (and still rise albeit more slowly) and many of us struggle to pay our bills.  The conflict between Israel and Gaza has locked in hatred, insecurity, prejudice, and discrimination for generations to come; the catastrophe repeats itself.  In America we’re faced with a resurgent group of election deniers determined to seek revenge against the institutions that protected democracy.  China desires Taiwan and seems willing to use violence and coercion to gain it; in the UK many issues are raised in election years, but few are about our fundamental values as a, in theory, free union of nations.  Do these crises make us, as they made the Jewish people of old, forget God and God’s sovereignty?  Does the God-given desire for spirituality give the Church a way in to remind and proclaim God’s grace? I wonder what we might mean by God’s sovereignty in an age of human freedom.  We proclaim that Christ is King but the powers that rule this world pay little, if any, attention to Jesus and his demands.  A few weeks ago we proclaimed, again, peace on earth and light in the gloom but the wars continue.  These aren’t new questions.  The Psalm reminds us that praise is an act of our will; sometimes a deeply subversive, difficult and painful thing to do.  In the face of disaster, the Psalmist trusted in and praised God.  The Psalmist balanced the praise of God with a hymn of praise with ideas deeply embedded in social justice.  We can’t sing God’s praises without being grounded in the messy business of life; yet we need to resist being overwhelmed by life’s vicissitudes which can cause us to forget God’s loving kindness.  Paul brilliantly asserts his freedom – a freedom he freely gives up to live as “slave to all” so as not to hinder the Gospel.  Attending to the weak, realising we must live lives worthy of our calling and seeing that just as we can forget God’s deeds (as Isaiah noted) we can also leave behind the central point of being Christians whilst, at the same time, kidding ourselves we’re still church.  As the Church in the West declines, we find that we spend more and more time looking to assure our members rather than reaching out to those yet to come.  As we realise we’re not to be a members’ club we end up giving lots of attention to our members so they don’t leave.  As we proclaim God’s sovereignty we wonder how the Church will exist in the next generation.

Perhaps some memories will help.  In an era of corruption and cynicism, the Reformers held we could be sure that the true Church subsists wherever the sacraments are rightly administered, and the Word truly preached. In the face of persecution and struggle the Church itself was revived, not just through the Protestant reform but also in the Catholic reaction to it.  In each of our readings today we see a concern to remember God’s deeds, to praise God, and to live well remembering that God’s concern for the forsaken, the broken, the outsider, and the wounded needs to be embodied in our lives and loves.  We remember to embody in our own lives, and the live of our church, that which we remember.  God’s loving kindness, God’s sovereignty might not be seen in the powerful things that Isaiah and the Psalmist hoped for but in the weak and outsider that Paul attended to.  God’s grace is seen in the foodbank and the over 60s group.  God’s power is seen with the asylum seeker resisting injustice and the messy church seeking to connect with those on the edge of our common life together.  God’s power is seen in the AA group meeting in our hall where week after week strength is seen in the lives of the broken and the weak.  We truly administer the sacraments when we remember the Church has to be on the edge, away from the centre of power but embodied and embedded in the lives of the outcasts and failures.  The Word is truly preached when, as a response lives are transformed.  Deep in our memories we know that our roots are on the edge of respectability, outside the law where we found ourselves in unlikely company.  Deep in our communal memory we know that God is there, leading, guiding and assuring – perhaps we need to reach for our pensieves and catch up with what we know to be true.

Let’s pray

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal Home,
help us to remember,
your deeds of might performed with the weak,
your loving kindness offered to the unlovely,
and your hope offered to the hopeless,
that we may be part of your great legacy,
that our people may not perish but flourish.  Amen.

Hymn     Christ is the World’s Light
Fred Pratt Green 1969 Hope Publishing Company Printed and Podcast in accordance with the terms of OneLicence # A-734713  Performed by Koine and used under licence. 
 
Christ is the world’s Light, Christ and none other;
born in our darkness, he became our Brother.
If we have seen him, we have seen the Father:
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s peace, Christ and none other;
no one can serve him and despise another.
Who else unites us, one in God the Father?
Glory to God on high.

Christ is the world’s life, Christ and none other; 
sold once for silver, murdered here, our brother –
he, who redeems us, reigns with God the Father:
Glory to God on high.

Give God the glory, God and none other;
give God the glory, Spirit, Son and Father;
give God the glory, God with us, my brother:
Glory to God on high.
 
Affirmation of Faith

We believe in the Eternal One who has, since before time itself, guided and grieved with us in our pain, sought and saved us when we were lost, rejoiced and redeemed us from the miry pit.  
Woe to us if we do not proclaim the Gospel!

We believe in the risen Lord Jesus who became one with us, that we might learn to love and serve God and God’s people.  Jesus was betrayed by one He loved, given over to unjust trial and grievous execution and all was lost.  But God raised him on high, revealing love in weakness, glory in the gloom.    
Woe to us if we do not proclaim the Gospel!

We believe in the Holy Spirit, fire of God’s love, dynamo of the Church, light for our path; the One who prays within us when don’t have the words, bringer of grace through sign and symbol.  
Woe to us if we do not proclaim the Gospel!

We believe in the Church; agency of God in our world, herald of the Gospel, community of the free, imperfect sign of perfect love.  A place of healing and wholeness, of love and community.  
Woe to us if we do not proclaim the Gospel!

Intercessions

O Most High, we forget  your goodness to us, and turn our minds away from the marvels you have done.  You called us in our mother’s womb, consecrated us to your service, poured love and grace upon us, moved mountains for us and keep us as the apple of your eye.  We thank you for your loving kindness seen throughout our lives, especially in difficult times when your love has held us, even without us knowing.

pause

Bless with your love all those who find life unbearable today:

•    those living in fear of war and dictator, 
•    those crowded in unsafe refugee camps, 
•    those working for peace yet being shouted down by war mongers 
•    those waiting for life to end

and fill us with the memory of your command to work for a better world.

pause

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Risen Lord Jesus, we praise you for your life of loving service, defiant proclamation and truth telling to power.  Remind us of our call to resist the powers of evil that stalk our world, our responsibility to tell the truth whatever the cost and the price of love involved in carrying our crosses.

pause

bless with your love all those who are called to tell the truth this day:

•    whistle-blowers calling out corruption in high office,
•    peacemakers exposing a lust for war,
•    journalists revealing threats to democracy

pause

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Most Holy Spirit, we praise you for the energy you give the Church, ever surprising us and calling us to new forms of life and vitality – even sometimes when we least expect it.  Make us always eager to proclaim the Gospel through word and deed.

pause

Bless with your love those who proclaim your saving work this week:

•    those who donate to and volunteer in foodbanks
•    those who seek to make women’s refuges safe and healing places
•    those who welcome folk into groups for addiction where, step by step, freedom is found

pause

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Eternal Trinity of love, in our thanks and our prayers we bring to you now those we love and worry about.

longer pause

We join all our prayers together as we pray as Jesus taught….

Lord’s Prayer

Offertory

We give because it’s good for us;  
we give because it makes a difference;
we give as it’s a way of resisting both the love of money 
and the poison of consumerism;
we give because we value the causes and organisations we support.

We give to the Church because we value it, 
it makes a difference in so many lives 
and it’s a measure of our discipleship.  

We give in many ways, in little envelopes, by standing order, simply by popping money into the plate.  

However, we give, we ask God to bless our giving and our gifts.  

Let’s pray:

Eternal God,
we offer our thanks for your many gifts to us,
the love you shower us with
the life we live,
those we share living with
and all the creatures with whom we dwell 
and learn to be in harmony with.
Bless these gifts, 
that through them we can make a difference to our world.  Amen.

Hymn     I Come With Joy, A Child of God
© 1971, 1995 Hope Publishing Company music © 2021 Hope Publishing Printed and Podcast in accordance with the terms of OneLicence # A-734713  sung by musicians from Lake Grove Presbyterian Church, Lake Oswego, Oregan, USA. 

I come with joy, a child of God,
forgiven, loved and free,
the life of Jesus to recall,
in love laid down for me.

I come with Christians far and near
to find, as all are fed,
the new community of love
in Christ’s communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share,
each proud division ends.
The love that made us, makes us one,
and strangers now are friends.

The Spirit of the risen Christ,
unseen, but ever near,
is in such friendship better known,
alive among us here.
 
Together met, together bound
by all that God has done,
we’ll go with joy, to give the world
the love that makes us one.

Holy Communion

God is here!     God’s Spirit is with us!
Lift up your hearts     We lift them up to God!
Let us give God our thanks and praise!     It is our duty and joy to worship God!

Eternal God,
from the beginning of time all creation worships you,
the sun, moon, and stars dance with joy in your presence,
all your creatures praise your most holy name,
and we, your people, thank you today for Your Word.

Since the earliest times you have spoken to us;
long ago your voice rang over the waters of the deep,
and now sounds through 
natural wonder, ancient story, and bold prophet.
In the fullness of time your word burst forth in Jesus
who taught us to love and to worship, 
to question and to challenge.  
He spoked the engines of evil in his own age, 
and calls us to do the same today.  

Before he was given over to torture, degradation, and death,
Jesus shared a meal with his friends, and, during that meal,
took bread, prayed the ancient blessing, and said:

Take this all of you and eat it, for this is my body
which is broken for you.  Do this in memory of me.

When Supper was over, he took the cup of wine,
again prayed the ancient prayer of blessing,
gave the cup to his friends and said:

Take this all of you and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood,
the blood of the new and everlasting covenant
so that sins may be forgiven.  Do this in memory of me.

Let us proclaim the central mystery of our faith:

Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.

After three days in the darkness of death 
your word, O Most High, was heard again, filling Christ with new life, 
confounding the powers of evil that seek to rule our world,
inspiring us to live as he lives,  showing love and compassion, 
and preaching the gospel of your holy love.

May your Holy Spirit come upon us, 
and upon these gifts of bread and wine,
that as we show forth Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, 
by the broken bread and outpoured wine,
we may discern, as we eat and drink, 
Jesus’ presence with us, risen and ascended, 
giving himself for our spiritual nourishment and growth in grace.
United around this table with the whole Church, we offer ourselves anew 
and rejoice in the promise of Christ’s coming in glory.

Give us, O Most High, tongues to extoll your great deeds,
hearts to respond to the preaching of Your Word,
discernment to bring rest to the weary, excitement to the jaded,
and joy to the downtrodden.  

Bless us all as we remember your deeds of old,
and seek to follow you in our own age,
that as we remember we make real your love and power,
found in weakness and vulnerability,
bringing healing and light 
to a cold and dark world.  

All this we pray through Jesus, with Jesus, in Jesus,
in the loving power of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory be yours, O Most High,
forever and ever,   Amen!

Music for Communion    Crucified Man by Graham Kendrick 
© Make Way Music Podcast in accordance with OneLicence # A-734713  

Post Communion Prayer

Bless the Lord, O my soul;
and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all God’s benefits.

Loving God, we thank you
that you have fed us in this sacrament,
united us with Christ,
and given us a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in your eternal realm.

Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to live and work to your praise and glory,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn    O God Our Help in Ages Past
Isaac Watts (1719) Public Domain sung by a 150 voice Mass Choir  for Classic Hymns 1st album “Ancient of Days” Conductor :   Dr Arul Siromoney  of St. Andrews Church Chennai in 2008 and used with their kind permission.
 
O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast,
and our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
sufficient is Thine arm alone,
and our defence is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
or earth received a frame,
from everlasting Thou art God,
to endless years the same.

A thousand ages in Thy sight
are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night
before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever-rolling stream
bears all its sons away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream
dies at the op’ning day.

O God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come,
be Thou our guard while life shall last,
and our eternal home!
 
Blessing

May the One who holds you in the palm of Her hands
help you to remember all that God has done for you.
May the One who lived, died, and rose again for you,
help you proclaim the glorious gospel of freedom.
May the One who came upon you at baptism, 
filling you with the fire of God’s love continue to inspire you to serve,
and the blessing of God Almighty,
Source, Guide, and Goal of all life,
be with you and all whom you love, now and always, Amen.

Daily Devotion for Saturday 3rd February 2024

St Mark 5: 1 – 20

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.  When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him.  This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.  For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.  Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”  For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”  And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside.  The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.”  He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well.  Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him.  Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”  So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.

Reflection

This is the longest exorcism story told in the Gospels. We are told that Jesus went to the other side of the lake to the country of the Gerasenes. It is unclear where this country is, the city of Gerasa is over thirty miles from any water, others suggest that it is really Kherasa, closer to the lake. Wherever it is Mark sets the incident in the Decapolis, literally ten cities, a federation founded by Alexander the Great in predominantly Gentile territory.
 
The man recognises Jesus, and Jesus goes on to ask the man his own name. The man has no name, or at least he does not remember the name he was given. The man has no name, merely a label representing the way the man is filled with demons. He is Legion. In Jesus’ time the word legion would be understood as referring to a unit in the Roman army.
 
In a bizarre scene Jesus sends the demons among the pigs, who rush down into the lake and are drowned.
 
The people who come and observe the scene, see the man who had been possessed, dressed and in his right mind. They are afraid. Afraid about what? Afraid of the power of Jesus to bring healing. Afraid that their lives and ways of living were being turned upside down. The man had been just where they wanted him living among the tombs, now he was healed and had come to Jesus.
 
Maybe it says something to us today and the way we view mental illness. It wasn’t so long ago that those suffering mental illness were sent to psychiatric hospitals on the edges of towns and cities. Today we know that one in three people suffer from mental health problems. There is the campaign ‘Rethink Mental Illness’. The people who have seen this healing by Jesus don’t really want to rethink things. Because of their great fear they just want Jesus to go away.
 
Prayer
 
Gracious God,
Jesus brought healing and liberation to those he encountered.
May we who are his people today,
Be agents of health and wholeness,
Liberating people from those things
That bind them,
And hold them in thrall.
Amen.

Daily Devotion for Friday 2nd February 2024

St Mark 4: 35 – 41

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’

Reflection

Jesus speaks; wind and waves obey him. “Who is this?” ask his companions in fearful wonder; whilst the inference that eludes them seems clear to us. Surely such authority over the elements can belong only to God.

But there’s another question perhaps demanding to be asked: “Who can sleep through a storm at sea?”

Well of course, Jesus can – as he does, right here in this passage. Though the boat’s in peril, he dozes on… until he’s shaken awake by his incredulous disciples. And the reason for his apparent nonchalance: there’s no need for fear, when there’s faith.

Elsewhere in the Bible, though, there’s one other person who’s described as managing to snooze through a squall: Jonah, the reluctant prophet, as he attempts to flee God’s commission. Amid the great tempest, Jonah “had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep” (Jonah 1:5) until he’s woken by the ship’s desperate crew. 

For Jonah, too, a way is found to bring stillness to the storm – but it’s altogether costlier for him…

Two sleepers at sea: one on the run from God’s will, the other supremely attuned to God’s will. Two storms: one which can only be stilled by submission, the other which itself submits.

It’s a parallel which I find intriguing – perhaps precisely because it’s not neatly tied up for us. The differences between Jonah and Jesus seem to outweigh the similarities. And yet…

After a fishy detour, Jonah would eventually fulfil his duty to bring God’s word to a Gentile city; whilst as we’ll see tomorrow, Jesus will step out of the boat in Gentile territory to work a wonder there.

As for us meanwhile: do we feel so confident in our faith that we can rest easy in life’s storms, or is our instinct to cocoon ourselves in denial? And if others should have to rouse us, what will they see in our response?

Prayer

Out of my distress I have called to God,
who has answered me;
from the heart of the depths I have cried,
and you heard my voice!
Therefore, faithful God,
make known again the sign of Jonah:
in Christ Jesus, crucified, risen and ascended,
let every storm be stilled.
Deliverance belongs to the Sovereign God!

Daily Devotion for Thursday 1st February 2024

Thursday, 1 February 2024

St Mark 4: 30 – 34

He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;  yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’  With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it;  he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Reflection 

For many years we have tried to get birds to nest in our garden but sadly without success.  We’ve followed advice and placed the nesting boxes in the right place but it seems that birds are very picky.  Unless conditions are just right they will find somewhere better.  The same goes for feeding them.  Having bought a type of seed promising to attract a particular bird and hung the feeder invitingly in the garden it sat empty for months. 

So when Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a seed that grows into a tree in which the birds come and nest, my ears pricked up.  If the birds have come to nest it must be a good tree, providing good things – with access to food, where their young can develop in safety.  You can grow the tree but you can’t make the birds come and certainly not make them stay unless they want to.  They will come of their choosing – if the conditions are just right.

Most of the time we recognise what is good for us.  We wouldn’t go into a venue that makes us feel uncomfortable.  We know when we feel safe in the company of other people.  We know in which places our spirits are filled with light and our burden feels easy.  When we are in such places we know that the kingdom of God has come close.

I wonder to what extent our churches are filled with the good stuff of the kingdom of God?  When people enter do they sense that this is a place which is good for their souls  where their spirits will be fed, their bodies will be kept safe,  burdens made lighter and they can grow into maturity?  Unless that is true, we will find that people are just like the birds – they will not come.  The opposite is also true: when our churches are filled with the good things of God surely people will be glad to stay.  

Prayer

God of trees, gardens and birds
thank you for all that makes for safe places 
for people and animals in your world.
Hep us to grow churches that are filled with good things
where people can find rest for their souls
a safe space to grow
nourishment for their journey
and the joy of companionship of one another and with You.
Amen. 

 

Daily Devotion for 31st January 2024

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Wednesday, 31 January 2024 
St Mark 4: 21 – 29

Jesus said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?  For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.  Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’  And he said to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.  For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.’ He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground,  and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.  The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head.  But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’

Reflection

When I was a child, my mother spotted my curious mind and creative output.  She would say, “don’t hide your light under a bushel” meaning, “don’t hide your talent”.  My young dyslexic traumatised child only heard don’t hide yourself under a bush, which, being my parents’ child was exactly what I wanted to do.  Anywhere safe.  When I came to this text as an older child in church, then as a woman studying texts in my shock of being called to the ministry, I saw things afresh and understood the nature of transparency and safety; of not keeping things hidden, perhaps even letting Jesus’ light shine into secret darkness.
 
My adult self puzzled more at the next verses, the clear injustice of giving a lot to those who already have and taking away things from those with little. Even with Mark’s Jesus teaching about how to ‘get’ parables in Chapter 4, it’s hard to ‘get’ this one. It could just be Jesus telling the truth of how societies work and that we’d better be ready not to hide this ugly truth, but to tell it – we humans can make life unfair.
 
Finally, Mark’s Jesus brings seeds, again, this time working at growing, with little human understanding of how the growing happens. This points to so much growing we simply don’t understand.  No matter how it became what it is, perhaps we’re being led to see what flourishes and to accept those as gifts to be harvested or celebrated. Did Jesus mean that?  We’re a bit like the harvester – we don’t know, but let’s go for it. The whole three message thread here could be – keep things in the light; name injustice when we see it; celebrate gifting no matter how it shows itself.   Sounds like Gospel to me.
 
Prayer
 
Dear Knowing and Loving God,
We truly understand so little.
Give us grace to accept that uncomfortable truth as we seek ways to shed light into the injustice of our world, our relationship with our planet and our relationships with all of your people.
Give us trust to harvest carefully and creativity for your Gospel’s sake.
Amen and amen.

 

Today’s writer

The Rev’d Elizabeth Gray King is a retired URC minister.

New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Tuesday, 30 January 2024 The Rev’d Simon Copley,

When he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, ‘To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;  in order that

 “they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven.”’

And he said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand all the parables?  The sower sows the word.  These are the ones on the path where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy.  But they have no root, and endure only for a while; then, when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.  And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word,  but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it yields nothing.  And these are the ones sown on the good soil: they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’

Reflection

Mark makes a fascinating differentiation between disciples and crowds in his Gospel. There are 32 references to “crowd” (in the NIV), more than in either of the longer Gospels of Matthew and Luke – with a further 25 references to “people” or “the people” as well as to specific villages and towns. 

And, in Mark, Jesus interacts differently with both crowds and disciples. The former receive no-strings grace through healing and amazing acts of God while the latter, though being privy to the “secrets” of the Kingdom, are, nevertheless, set a very high-bar in terms of their call to take up the cross of Christ. 

Discipleship requires wholesale dedication and Jesus seems to want to make sure that entering and understanding the Kingdom doesn’t become too easy! Appropriately, the parable he is talking about underlines that things are not easy for the seeds that are sown…Grace may be given freely but it is, by no means, cheap. 

Being part of a small church in a crowded world, it is tempting to grow despondent, give up or look for quick fixes and comfortable answers. It seems that too much seed is wasted! The sower in the parable would never make a guest appearance on Countryfile – barring a search for the Dimmest Farmer of 2024! 

But I am struck by the numbers of people who “crowd” around the fringes of our congregational life and receive daily doses of extravagant grace from our generous Father: building and service users, passers by, children and young people etc etc. 

How much of that would happen without the commitment of a small band of people who spend their lives “around Jesus”? And I wonder, though many seeds seem to fall in unfruitful places, how many are falling and germinating, unseen, as yet hidden, in fertile soil? Let’s pray that the seeds grow and more disciples join us.  

Prayer

Father of the Harvest,
who sows abundantly
and draws every heart 
through extravagant grace,
by Your Holy Spirit, give us:  
comfort when isolated and overwhelmed, 
perseverance in sowing, 
faith in Your nurturing of seeds…
strength for discipleship, 
welcome to the crowd, 
wisdom to know the difference… 
courage to proclaim Your cross, 
boldness to call everyone to carry it…
patience as we wait for Your harvest,
knowing that You call us all, 
through Christ, our Lord

Monday, 29 January 2024 Alexandra Priddy,

Again Jesus began to teach beside the lake. Such a very large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat on the lake and sat there, while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the land.  He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:  ‘Listen! A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil.  And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away.  Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain.  Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’  And he said, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

Reflection

These familiar Bible verses speak to the ability to receive and take in God’s word.  At worst, we don’t take in HIS teachings for various reasons but at best we digest it and it grows within us.

For this reflection, I’m going to draw a parallel between this parable and the ability to have strong steadfast faith.   As I write this I’m being tested to exercise my faith, as I care for a much loved family member as they recover from an operation and, God willing, return to good health.

I liken the seeds the birds took away to when my faith dissipates and I have doubts or get distracted.  In these times, my focus is on negative things, I start to doubt the very God that can make ALL things possible and I let the volume of the negative overpower the joyful music of the positive.

I liken the seeds on the rocky ground and also the seeds that grew amongst the thorns to when my faith is not very deep; when at the first sign of trouble I speak words of doubt. In these times, I let my fear take over.  The thorns in the verse represent  when I let other voices or beliefs choke what I know to be true.. that my God is faithful.  I forget what HE has already brought me through and that I have had doubts before, only for God to come through.  

Best of all though is when my faith is strong, confident, consistent and loud; this is akin to when the seeds fall on good soil.  In these wonderful times, I feel and see nothing but God’s promises; I am hopeful, I speak words of faith and I take every opportunity to express a strong living faith. 

I often wonder why I let the fear, negativity and doubt take over.  It is a bad habit that at times, I struggle to break; but I like to think that with every challenge, my faith is renewed and strengthened.

Prayer 

Father help us to grow in faith day by day, challenge by challenge
Allow us the confidence to share with others, the good you are doing in our lives
Inject positivity into our lives, dimming the negative and amplifying the positive 
Teach us to experience growth as we travel through life’s experiences  
Helping us become more hopeful and confident with each passing day Amen