Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston
Welcome
Hello and welcome to worship. Today we think of a story of a pagan general, an enemy of Israel, seek healing from Israel’s God and one of His prophets. A healing freely given long before any profession of faith in the One who heals. God’s loving kindness acted in unexpected way and, as we shall see, with unexpected people. My name is Andy Braunston; God’s loving kindness unexpectedly brought me to Orkney where I live in the West Mainland of this lovely island county. Here, as elsewhere, we look for God in unexpected places and unexpected people, so let’s worship together as we seek God together.
Call to Worship
We come to seek You, O Most High, in word and song, movement and silence, and in each other. We come to seek You, O Most High!
We come to seek You, Risen Lord Jesus, in bread and wine, in unexpected places and in unexpected people. We come to seek You, O Most High!
We come to seek You, Most Holy Spirit, in love of friend, neighbour, and stranger, in the spectacle and the stillness. We come to seek You, O Most High!
We come to see, You, Living God, break through the hardness of our hearts, the blindness of our senses, and the stubbornness of our wills, that we may see you in our midst. We come to seek You, O Most High!
Come and worship God!
Hymn Come Down O Love Divine
Bianco da Siena; Translator: Richard Frederick Littledale (1867) Public Domain. Courtesy of St Andrew’s Cathedral Sydney Chamber Choir, directed by Ross Cobb.
Come down, O Love divine, seek thou this soul of mine,
and visit it with thine own ardour glowing;
O Comforter, draw near, within my heart appear,
and kindle it, thy holy flame bestowing.
O let it freely burn, till earthly passions turn
to dust and ashes in its heat consuming;
and let thy glorious light shine ever on my sight,
and clothe me round, the while my path illuming.
Let holy charity my outward vesture be,
and lowliness become my inner clothing;
true lowliness of heart which takes the humbler part,
and for its own shortcomings weeps with loathing
And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long,
shall far outpass the power of human telling;
for none can guess its grace, till he become the place
wherein the Holy Spirit makes a dwelling.
Prayers of Approach, Confession, and Grace
We gather today, O Most High,
to seek You, to bring You our thanks,
to rest in Your presence, and to feel Your loving kindness,
knowing You meet us in this place.
We gather today, Risen Lord Jesus,
to listen to Your voice,
proclaimed in ancient and contemporary words,
to respond to Your call to follow,
and to find You in the unexpected.
Forgive us, good Lord, when we’ve refused to seek You,
when we’ve ignored Your voice, turned away from Your call,
and disregarded You when we stumble across You.
Forgive us and give us time to change,
for we know You meet us in this place.
We gather today, Most Holy Spirit,
and accept the forgiveness You offer,
live the peace You bring,
and respond to Your energising presence,
like perfume in the air as You meet us in this place. Amen.
Introduction
In today’s main reading we read of Naaman – an Aramean (now we’d probably call him a Syrian) general who had led many attacks against Israel – seeking healing for his skin disease. Hearing of a prophet from a Jewish slave girl he asks the King of Israel for details. The king panics not knowing, it seems, of Elisha’s ministry, and assumes the letter is an excuse to invade. The slave girl knows of God’s healing power, the King is ignorant. Naaman, being an important man, is rather put out that he gets not the prophet but a messenger and is told to go and have a bath. Getting over himself he follows instructions and finds healing; a healing which leads to both gratitude and a profession of faith. Our Psalmist today rejoices in God’s healing power. As we listen we muse on where we find God; for Naaman it was in an unexpected person in an unexpected way. We might muse too on our attitudes having found God – are we grateful? Do we let our encounters with God change us?
Prayer for Illumination
Do not hide Your voice from us, O God,
but speak through prayer, hymn, silence, reading, and sermon,
that we may hear, understand, respond, and obey.
Amen.
Reading 2 Kings 5:1-19
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from a skin disease. Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his skin disease.” So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go, then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.” He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his skin disease.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his skin disease? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God and would wave his hand over the spot and cure the skin disease! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!’ He urged him to accept, but he refused. Then Naaman said, ‘If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt-offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.’ He said to him, ‘Go in peace.’
Hymn All With Joyful Exultation (Psalm 30)
Michael Morgan & Hal H Hopson OneLicence # A-734713
All with joyful exultation let us sing to God our praise;
to the Rock of our salvation loud hosannas raise.
Lord we sing with joyful voices;
Your great power can lift and save;
by your healing touch, revive us,
life restore beyond the grave.
All with joyful exultation let us sing to God our praise;
to the Rock of our salvation loud hosannas raise.
Praise to you our sure salvation,
You, the Holy One above.
End the night so dimmed by anguish,
with Your light of peace and love.
All with joyful exultation let us sing to God our praise;
to the Rock of our salvation loud hosannas raise.
Change our sorrow to rejoicing,
clothe with gladness all despair;
cause unsteady feet that stumble
now to dance beneath your care.
All with joyful exultation let us sing to God our praise;
to the Rock of our salvation loud hosannas raise.
Dry our tears we shed in mourning,
give us steadfast hope always;
fill our hearts with expectation;
fill our songs with thanks & praise.
All with joyful exultation let us sing to God our praise;
to the Rock of our salvation loud hosannas raise.
Sermon
One of the many reasons why we keep reading the Bible is that it so often resonates with us today. This collection of stories, laws, poetry, and letters describes so many facets of human experience that we keep reading it and finding our own stories reflected in the tales we read. In today’s story we read of a man searching for healing. In that healing, he found God and changed his life.
The setting for the story is after the deaths of Elijah and his old foe King Ahab. Ahab’s son, Jehoram, is on the throne and is disturbed by the presence of Naaman, the Aramean general responsible for his father’s death, appearing in the royal court. Not only does Naaman appear he brings a letter from his king asking the impossible. Aware that only God can heal, Jehoram despairs either unaware of Elisha’s ministry or is wilfully blind to it seeing the letter as a pretext for yet more war.
The Hebrew text makes clear that Naaman was an important man who wanted to make a big deal out of the miraculous healing. Despite being put out by the rather disinterested approach of Elisha he returned to profess his faith and try to pay the prophet. Later Jesus used this passage (in Luke 4) to make a point about healing gentiles – much to the crowd’s fury. Elijah and Elisha, and Jesus, exerted themselves on behalf of foreigners; possibly to contrast the faith of the outsiders with the unbelief of the insiders.
In the story we read that Naaman was seeking God. The person who should have known where God was at work – the Jewish King Jehoram – didn’t have a clue; a slave girl did. As a result of an experience of God’s saving loving kindness, Naaman confesses his faith and changes his life. God is found in the unexpected places in life and acts with unexpected people – Naaman was, after all, the pagan general responsible for the death of the former Jewish king. But more than this, the story implies that God is not always found where we’d expect God to be found; God is not always where the religious folk he should be!
God is found in the unexpected. Throughout the Biblical narratives we see, again and again, that the poor, the weak, and those of no account most acutely see God at work. In today’s passage it’s a Jewish slave girl captured in a raid and put to work in this general’s household who knows where God is. The King suspects a trick and despairs – Elisha has the answer but isn’t at court. Where, I wonder, did the King expect to find God? Where did Naaman? – he went to the royal court after all. The King of Aram, Naaman, and the King of Israel did not know where to find God; the unnamed servant girl, Naaman’s other slaves, and Elisha all did.
If someone came into your church saying they were seeking God would you know what to say? Where might you suggest they look (and don’t dodge the question by suggesting they speak to a minister!)
We know this story, we can feel smug at the ignorance of the up and the in and feel pleased God is at work with the down and out – but what might we say to one looking for God now? It seems that material advantages don’t make one closer to God – (two kings and a general hadn’t got a clue) whereas the ones who didn’t have their freedom were much closer to the Kingdom. Perhaps we might find God when we are with the marginalised?
God is found in the complexities of life. God heals a pagan general who had waged war on Israel. The general expects special treatment – he’s an important figure after all – but all he’s asked to do is go and have a bath in a river. God doesn’t punish Naaman for his pride like we might expect God to do. Naaman’s expectations and preconceptions were frustrated; he’s special in God’s eyes but no more special than the slave girl or his other slaves.
Elisha’s message, and God, were judged by Naaman through the idea of a spectacle (and who doesn’t like a good spectacle?) Instead, God works in ways which are outside our normal expectations amid life’s complexity. God speaks through a slave, a messenger shows how the healing should happen – through something as simple as taking a bath.
We too like to limit God by having our expectations on how God will act (or our assumptions about how God won’t act). We can be tempted to be transactional like Naaman (who wanted to pay for his healing). When we assume God acts exclusively how we want we end up disparaging other faiths, other people, and even the earth itself. Yet God acts in life’s complexity with people of no account in ways which we aren’t expecting. God is God.
God is also found on the edge, with the unchurched. The story shows the universality of God’s love; a pagan enemy is healed, a slave speaks God’s word, and an itinerant prophet is a means of healing. Elisha doesn’t appear much in the story – he sends word to the Jewish King and to Naaman. There’s no great scene with the prophet calling down God’s healing, no burning fires, no murder of pagan priests. Elisha’s presence, however, is throughout the story. Elisha’s approach to this enemy of Israel is to offer healing not judgement. God’s loving kindness is experienced before there is a confession of faith; a confession not asked for nor is healing given as a reward for it. Instead, it is a response to finding God. Having found God, Naaman is serious about how he can follow in the context of serving a pagan master. This story can encourage us to serve and offer God’s healing to those outwith the Church, to welcome strangers without insisting on professions of faith, to not push for commitment from seekers but let them respond in their own, God’s own, time. Naaman’s story shows we should help people find God but then let them respond rather than forcing a particular way upon them.
Our contemporary society lives without much reference to the transcendent. Religion is relegated to the private sphere; there may be respect for the religious but no real understanding beyond an awareness that certain religions have certain rules. The idea that God can break into our imminent perceptions are uncomfortable, strange, and disturbing. Yet our faith is centred around the fact that God intervened in the person of Jesus Christ; God revealed divine love, power and purpose in Jesus.
We find this difficult to remember though. Even in the Church we don’t live, act, or believe as if we expect God to show up! Yet in these stories we see God act in unexpected ways with unexpected people, amid the complexity of life and without demanding anything in return. Naaman’s story can offer us clues about how people search and how God finds them. It can remind us to let God work without us trying to force the issue; to give space to those who are seeking and to trust, always, in God’s loving presence and power to reveal Himself when and wherever he will – even in church! Let’s pray.
Jesus, let us fly to You even as the waters roll,
that You may find us as we seek You,
heal us as we need You,
and meet us even we don’t expect You.
Amen.
Hymn Jesus Lover of My Soul
Charles Wesley (1740) Public Domain. 200 Voice Mass Choir at St Andrew’s Kirk, Chenai, used with their kind permission.
Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly,
while the nearer waters roll, while the tempest still is high;
hide me, O my Saviour, hide, till the storm of life is past;
safe into the haven guide, O receive my soul at last!
Other refuge have I none; hangs my helpless soul on thee;
leave, ah! leave me not alone, still support and comfort me.
All my trust on thee is stayed, all my help from thee I bring;
cover my defenceless head with the shadow of thy wing.
Thou, O Christ, art all I want, More than all in thee I find;
Raise the fallen, cheer the faint, Heal the sick, and lead the blind.
Just and holy is thy name, I am all unrighteousness!
Vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of truth and grace.
Plenteous grace with thee is found, grace to cover all my sin;
let the healing streams abound; make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the fountain art; freely let me take of thee;
spring thou up within my heart, rise to all eternity.
Affirmation of Faith
We believe in God,
Creator of all that is, seen and unseen.
God is searched for in fire and storm,
law and grace, Creation and nature
but reveals Himself to us in Jesus Christ.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s divine revelation to us.
His life, ministry, death, and new life are attested to in the Scriptures;
flawed human documents yet a medium for divine revelation.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who gives us life as we encounter Jesus in the Word –
written and proclaimed –
who reveals and reconciles us to God.
We believe the Church is called to listen to the Holy Spirit,
proclaim the reconciliation revealed in Jesus,
and live in the power, purpose, and promises of God. Amen
Offertory
Naaman offered vast riches to Elisha in gratitude for his healing; Elisha declined them not wanting to confuse God’s freely given grace with a fee for services rendered. Ever since God’s people have tried, and often, failed to keep gratitude and payment separate. Our faith involves giving as an act of gratitude, faith, and confidence in the One who heals us and lifts us from the miry pits of life. We express our gratitude in so many ways; through giving our time, our talents and, of course, our treasure. We offer listening ears, help where needed, put money in the plate or direct to the bank. Sometimes, though we try not to we can grumble, but remind ourselves that God loves cheerful givers. So, today, we give thanks for all that is given in our church – acts of gratitude even if tinged with a bit of grumbling and offer all that we give to God.
Gracious God,
we offer to You all that we give,
our time, our talents, and our treasure,
as signs of our gratitude,
seeking nothing in return. Amen.
Intercessions
Creating God, you reveal yourself through Jesus Christ,
Your Word, ever fresh for us,
always healing and reconciling,
moving us on through the Holy Spirit.
Be with us now as we bring before you the needs of our world.
We pray, Creating God, for peace,
peace where there is warfare,
justice where there is crime,
love where there is hatred.
May Your Church be an agent of peace and reconciliation.
God, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
Enfleshed Lord Jesus,
Your call to us continues
to proclaim Your coming kingdom,
to forgive those we hate,
to bring your love and healing where all seems gloomy.
Bless us as we seek to serve You in the world,
bless those who use these buildings week after week,
those who walk past searching for You,
those who’ve popped in to explore,
and those who seek You.
Help Your Church to be agent of proclamation
pointing to You and Your unquenchable love.
God, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
Most Holy Spirit,
You drive us out beyond our comfort zones,
beyond the boundaries of our time,
to see Your dance in creation,
Your love at work where we least expect,
and Your judgement on our unjust structures and institutions.
Fill Your Church with zeal to proclaim the Gospel,
an agent of Your grace exposing and fighting injustice,
calling the world to find, in You, rest for their restless hearts.
God, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
Eternal Trinity of Love,
Hold in Your love those we now remember in the silence of our hearts…
God, in your mercy…hear our prayer.
And so we bring You all our prayers, Loving God, in the words Jesus taught us…Our Father…
Hymn In Bread We Bring You Lord
Kevin Nichols © Kevin Mayhew Ltd One Licence performed by Emmaus Music and used with their kind permission. OneLicence # A-734713
In bread we bring You Lord our body’s labour.
In wine we offer You our spirit’s grief.
We do not ask you, Lord ‘who is my neighbour?’
but stand united now one in belief.
Oh we have gladly heard Your Word, Your holy Word,
and now in answer, Lord our gifts we bring.
Our selfish hearts make true. Our failing faith renew.
Our lives belongs to You; our Lord and King
The bread we offer You is blessed and broken
and it becomes for us our spirit’s food.
Over the cup we bring Your Word is spoken;
make it Your gift to us Your healing blood.
Take all that daily toil plants in our heart’s poor soil.
Take all we start and spoil, each hopeful dream,
the chances we have missed, the graces we resist,
Lord, in Thy Eucharist, take and redeem.
Holy Communion
Now let us hear the story of how this sacrament began.
On the night on which Jesus was betrayed,
he sat at supper with his disciples.
While they were eating, he took a piece of bread,
said a blessing, broke it, and gave it to them with the words,
“This is my body. It is broken for you.
Do this to remember me.”
Later he took the cup, saying,
“This cup is God’s covenant,
sealed with my blood.
Drink from it, all of you, to remember me.”
God meets us in the sacraments,
holy acts in which his deeds elicit our response.
In the supper our Lord offers the bread and cup to believers
to guarantee our share in his death and resurrection,
and to unite us to him and to each other.
We take this food gladly, announcing as we eat that Jesus is our life
and that he shall come again to call us to the Supper of the Lamb.
So now, following Jesus’ example and command,
we take this bread and this cup,
the ordinary things of the world,
which Christ will use for extraordinary purposes.
And as he said a prayer before sharing, let us do so too.
Blessed are you, strong and faithful God.
All your works, the heights and the depths,
echo the silent music of your praise.
In the beginning your Word summoned light,
night withdrew, and creation dawned.
As ages passed unseen,
waters gathered on the face of the earth and life appeared.
When the times at last had ripened
and the earth had grown full in abundance,
you created humanity in your own image,
the caretakers of all creation.
You gave us breath and speech,
that all the living might find a voice to sing your praise,
and to celebrate the creation you called good.
So now, with all the powers of heaven and earth,
we sing the ageless hymn of your glory:
The Skye Boat Song Sanctus
The Revd Michael Forster © Kevin Mayhew Ltd Vocalist Lucy Bunce OneLicence # A-734713
Holy, most holy, all holy the Lord,
God of all pow’r and might:
Heaven and Earth with your glory abound
wrapped in eternal light.
Blessed is he, he who has come,
come in the Father’s name,
Servant and Lord, Saviour and Judge, making his royal claim.
Holy, most holy, all holy the Lord,
God of all pow’r and might.
Now with hosanas and jubilant praise,
earth and the heav’ns unite.
All holy God, how wonderful is the work of your hands!
When sin had scarred the world,
you entered into covenant to renew the whole creation.
As a mother tenderly gathers her children,
as a father joyfully welcomes his own,
you embraced a people as your own
and filled them with longing for a peace that would last
and for a justice that would never fail.
Through countless generations
your people hungered for the bread of freedom.
From them you raised up Jesus, your Son,
the living bread, in whom ancient hungers are satisfied.
He healed the sick, though he himself would suffer;
he offered life to sinners, though death would hunt him down.
But with a love stronger than death,
he opened wide his arms and surrendered his spirit.
Gracious God,
as we offer you our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,
we commemorate Jesus, your Son.
Death could not bind him,
for you raised him up in the Spirit of holiness
and exalted him as Lord of creation.
Therefore we proclaim our faith
as signed and sealed in this sacrament:
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray,
that the sharing of the bread that we break and the cup that we bless
may be for us the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
Grant that, being joined together in him,
we may attain to the unity of the faith
and grow up in all things into Christ, our Lord.
And as this grain has been gathered from many fields into one loaf,
and these grapes from many hills into one cup,
grant, O Lord, that your whole Church
may soon be gathered from the ends of the earth into your kingdom.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! Amen
Hear the words of our Saviour:
“Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.”
Come, then, for all is ready.
We come not because we ought, but because we may,
not because we are righteous, but because we are penitent,
not because we are strong, but because we are weak,
not because we are whole, but because we are broken.
The body of Christ, given for you.
Thanks be to God.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Thanks be to God.
Music for Communion Lamb of God (Michael Row the Boat)
Nick Fawcett © Kevin Mayhew Ltd, Vocalist Lucy Bunce. OneLicence # A-734713
Post Communion Prayer
O amazing God, you come into our ordinary lives
and set a holy table among us,
filling our plates with the bread of life
and our cups with salvation.
Send us out, O God, with tenderheartedness
to touch an ordinary everyday world
with the promise of your holiness. Amen.
Hymn He Came Down That We May Have Love
Cameroonian Traditional, Public Domain performed by Jubilate Hymns
He came down that we may have love;
He came down that we may have love;
He came down that we may have love,
Hallelujah forevermore.
He came down that we may have peace;
He came down that we may have peace;
He came down that we may have peace;
Hallelujah forevermore.
He came down that we may have joy;
He came down that we may have joy;
He came down that we may have joy;
Hallelujah forevermore.
He came down that we may have hope;
He came down that we may have hope;
He came down that we may have hope;
Hallelujah forevermore.
He came down that we may have love;
He came down that we may have love;
He came down that we may have love,
Hallelujah forevermore.
Blessing
May the One who reveals himself unbidden,
the One who heals with loving kindness,
and the One who energises the Church,
reveal Himself to you anew,
shower you with grace,
and drive you out to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed.
and the blessing of Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be with you, now and always, Amen.