tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7112474982335103752024-03-05T04:14:18.783+00:00MPC Sermons and articlesSermons and other writing and articles for Morecambe Parish ChurchSue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-53561766427129605022020-05-17T11:36:00.001+01:002020-05-17T11:39:38.276+01:00Sermon for 6th Sunday of Easter 17 May 2020 Sue Kiernan<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Acts 17: 22 – 31 Rogation Sunday</span></b></h2>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I think Rogation days are probably </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">a lost tradition for most of us. It used to be the day when
the Church asked for God’s blessing on the crops, that we would have a
bountiful harvest. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">You may have heard of
the tradition of ‘beating the bounds’, when the Rector would get his cassock
dirty, while he and the church folk would walk round the boundaries of their
parish, praying for God’s protection over their crops for the next year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Today, not many of us
get our livelihoods directly from the production of food, yet it is good to be
reminded of our dependence upon those who do – as well as our responsibility
for the environment - </span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">asking the Lord to
bless the fields, the crops, and the farmers who produce our food.</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">We’ve seen on the news
that our farmers are struggling, in the absence of migrant workers, to find a
work force to pick the crops. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">That might make us more
grateful, more aware of what comes into our supermarkets and onto our table.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I wonder if any of you
have been using some of your spare time in ‘lock down’ to grow some of your own
food? We’ve been growing tomatoes from seed in the greenhouse and I hope you
will see Marilyn’s raised beds and a friend of mine’s strawberries. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Pottering in the
garden or going for walks makes us feel better, doesn’t it? It’s good for our
mental, as well as our physical well-being. God has given us this beautiful
world to enjoy that it might lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It’s interesting
how all this connects with our reading from Acts for today. The people of
Athens had their gods. Some were responsible for the harvest and if the Greeks
didn’t get a good crop, they believed the gods were punishing them. So they
built many shrines to many gods - and one in Athens was erected to the ‘unknown
god’ – perhaps so that all the options were covered.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">The Apostle Paul
presents to them a very different God; one “who made the earth hospitable”, one
who could be known in Jesus; and one who doesn’t live in shrines.</span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I think that if the
Apostle Paul had been speaking today, he might have said ‘Neither does this God
who made the world and everything in it, live in church buildings’!</span></span><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">It is now 8<span style="color: red;"> </span>weeks since we met in our Church building. Are you
missing the building? it’s very understandable. We have a beautiful building
and the act of regularly meeting together there is sorely missed. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Instead, we are forced to
worship and pray in our homes and in our gardens, on our walks and even looking
at the computer screen! But maybe we are discovering this truth that Paul
conveys that God is everywhere<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">I do pray that the
presence of God who is with us everywhere, is becoming more real to us all
these days. Paul says: “God doesn’t play hide and seek with us. He’s not
remote, he’s near”. Is that what you are experiencing at the moment, or does
Paul’s description of ‘groping around in the dark’ trying to find him, fit you better?
That can be the case when we don’t have our church community to share with in
worship and study and conversation. If that’s the case pick up the phone to
someone you trust. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">Maybe you just need to
hear again that the God who created us is reaching out to us in love. He’s not
far from any of us. In fact, “he is nearer to you than you are to yourself”. We
just need to turn around and look in the other direction – that’s what Paul
means here by repent. Turn around and look into the face of the Living, Risen
Lord Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk40253425;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;">May that be our
experience and then when we are able to meet again there will be lament for all
we and our world has lost over this time, but also joy, not just at our being
together again, but because Jesus is in our midst. </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-82360360835909762932020-05-04T17:20:00.001+01:002020-05-17T11:39:56.715+01:00Sermon for 3rd Sunday of Easter 26 April 2020 Rev'd Anne Cunliffe<br />
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>The Emmaus Road (Luke 24.13-35)</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">What kind of a journey are
you on? Even when we are unable to venture far, we are still on a journey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two followers of Jesus were on a
journey to Emmaus, they felt they needed to get away from Jerusalem, it was
just too painful to stay there. They were downhearted, confused, angry even,
what had happened to all their hopes and expectations? – we had hoped that he
was the one to save Israel, they had told this stranger, who had joined them on
the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Before leaving Jerusalem,
they had heard that the women who had gone to the tomb had found it empty, the
body of Jesus was nowhere to be seen, an angel had said he was risen. Even so,
they felt that did not give them a reason to hang about in case there was
something in this story. For them Jesus was dead and gone, they did not expect
to see him ever again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The encounter with the
stranger was an opportunity for them to relive their memories, to share their
hopes and their disappointment! When the stranger opened the scriptures to
them, on reflection, it was as if he had broken the word of God open, made it
more alive to them, nourished them with these precious words, and their hearts
felt as if they were on fire. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Arriving at their
destination, it was a natural thing for them to offer hospitality to the
stranger. Stay with us they said, have some supper. Through their invitation
they received the gift of recognition. As he blessed and broke the bread and
shared it with them their eyes were opened, it was Jesus…..then he disappeared…..leaving
them, leaving us to become Christ for others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The whole journey had been one
of transformation; they were transformed from sadness, foolishness and slowness
of heart to joy, insight and commitment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">That journey of
transformation would continue for the rest of their lives and beyond…..it is the
same for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I am reminded that in all the
Easter stories, the friends of Jesus do not go searching for him; Jesus comes
to them. He comes to Mary in the garden; he comes to the disciples through
locked doors as they hide in fear; and to Cleopas & his companion; as they
walk away from all that has happened; as they walk away from Jesus, Jesus walks
towards them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In all these encounters, he
comes to be where they are; he knows where they are! Still the risen Christ
comes to be where we are. Today and every day he journeys with us. Even when we
do not realise it, Jesus is our companion on the way but we rarely recognise
him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">The climax of this beautiful
story is as Jesus makes himself known to them in the breaking of bread which
points us to the Eucharist. Though we are unable to gather together at present
and be nourished by the sacrament of Holy Communion, we can be assured that God
in Christ gives himself to us over and over again; God feeding us, nourishing us
with his own life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This story especially reminds
us too that Jesus is also always present to us in his holy word.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In these challenging days may
we be open to the nourishment God daily offers us and always be ready to be
drawn into the mystery of his hidden presence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><b>Let us pray:</b><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lord, we thank you that you
come to be where we are, that you understand our confusion, our fear &
frustration, and our downheartedness. Help us to know your presence with us and
open our eyes to your glory all around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Lord, in your mercy…hear our
prayer</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lord, we thank you for the
gift of your Holy Word. May your Holy Spirit break open the Scriptures to us
and help us to understand Godly ways and to find ourselves in your story…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Lord,
in your mercy…</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Lord,
we pray for all who are ill with the coronavirus… <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">For
loved ones who watch at a distance and feel helpless…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>bring hope and healing…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We
pray that your Holy Spirit might inspire those who are researching treatments
and vaccines…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">Keep
us all strong in faith, hope and love…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Lord,
in your mercy…</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">We
pray for the brokenhearted, all who have lost loved ones through the
coronavirus…..be their companion in their sadness…and we remember those who
have died, especially any known to us….. may they rest in peace and rise in
glory. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Lord,
in your mercy…</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">In
confidence we entrust ourselves and all who are affected by this virus to your
infinite power and love in the prayer that Jesus taught us:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><i>Our
Father, who art in heaven…</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">May the Father’s touch of
healing, the Son’s touch of love, and the Spirit’s touch of transformation,
touch you today and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the
Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-27970547681351605232020-04-18T18:29:00.000+01:002020-05-17T11:40:55.460+01:00Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Easter 19 April 2020 Sue Kiernan<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Gospel reading for today:
John 20: 19 – 31</b><b><o:p> </o:p></b><b>Alleluia! Christ is Risen</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">He
is Risen indeed, Alleluia!</span><span class="text"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></sup></b></span></span></h2>
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<span class="text"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples
were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came
and stood among them and said, </span></i></span><span class="woj"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">‘Peace be with
you!’</span></i></span><span class="text"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span></div>
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<span class="text"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The
disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. John 20: 19 - 20</span></i></span><i><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Closed doors are becoming all
too familiar during this Coronavirus pandemic, aren’t they? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">the doors of our
homes closed to friends and even any family we don’t live with.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">the doors of
shops and businesses and cafes and restaurants all closed, while behind the
doors many owners are slowly going out of business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">the doors of our
care homes, closed to the relatives of our elderly and vulnerable loved ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">the doors of our
hospital intensive care wards, closed even when the closest person to us is
dying.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It may feel as if life itself
has closed its door on us.</span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdAxGzTKZ22aa6UESnzgR3b_wGOlpZILEAkx2U0wzJzMWmOXhzy8n1kviE8MWn10oybnlRa7lYVVxljj2yxFayNmYkI11ZDUDSG6gwqVNGpjDUbRdfseKBYB6XA4JX1iOFAl81VYLiXwST/s1600/doors+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdAxGzTKZ22aa6UESnzgR3b_wGOlpZILEAkx2U0wzJzMWmOXhzy8n1kviE8MWn10oybnlRa7lYVVxljj2yxFayNmYkI11ZDUDSG6gwqVNGpjDUbRdfseKBYB6XA4JX1iOFAl81VYLiXwST/s320/doors+2.jpg" width="256" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;">So, what does the Jesus who
comes through the closed door on that first Resurrection Sunday evening want to
say to us today?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The account tells us that the
disciples had locked the door because of fear. We can probably identify with
that sense of fear. We are quite rightly afraid of getting Covid-19 and of
those we love getting it too, especially if they are in the vulnerable group. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are many places in the
Bible where God says: ‘don’t be afraid’. But the Lord is not telling us off for
having fears. Fear is a very natural human emotion, which can be a great asset.
No, he’s saying ‘I know you are afraid. Take my hand; I’ll be with you through
it all’.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It’s like when a parent
teaches their child to be afraid of running into the road. That’s a proper
fear. So what do you do? You stand beside your child at the edge of the
pavement and take their hand in yours and say, ‘OK now, don’t be afraid, we’re
walking across together’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There are so many fears that
we all struggle with at some time in our lives and some of these fears can be
crippling: fear of the future, fear of responsibility, fear of love and
relationships, fear of bad news, fear of losing someone we care about, fear of
growing old and dependant – but probably the biggest is our fear of death and
dying. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There’s a verse in the letter
to the Hebrews which talks about Jesus coming to destroy the power of death and
“<i>free all</i> t<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hose who all their
lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”</i> (Ch 3: 14 – 15) Maybe the
subject of death is becoming less of a taboo at the moment, giving us more of
an opportunity than we’ve ever had before to face our fears and talk about it,
pray about it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1UImRB8OIZLWzYESAYXEnYrlFVRQaal-YSXMP1lW0pkmToE4ByAw-Y1N5BDQdAzSiEecfnSslU9pGlqX_1cxEp5drhvIND5qgDQXMbD9TrdLpVCI7IFZd34dOtm6SVfr6uBzMv-WTaxG/s1600/Jesus+comes+behind+a+locked+door.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="325" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA1UImRB8OIZLWzYESAYXEnYrlFVRQaal-YSXMP1lW0pkmToE4ByAw-Y1N5BDQdAzSiEecfnSslU9pGlqX_1cxEp5drhvIND5qgDQXMbD9TrdLpVCI7IFZd34dOtm6SVfr6uBzMv-WTaxG/s320/Jesus+comes+behind+a+locked+door.jpg" width="279" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">On that first Sunday evening
the resurrected Jesus, the one who had walked through death and come out the
other side, said “Peace be with you”. And the disciples were overjoyed when
they saw him.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">We can lock the door against
our fears and never really face them. But the Risen, living Jesus wants to come
through that locked door. He wants us to hear him say: ‘Peace be with you’. And
he will come, with all the love and compassion that took him to the Cross, and
say: ‘Peace be with you; take my hand and we will walk through this fear
together”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-21440194242314597252019-03-10T16:07:00.002+00:002019-03-10T16:07:48.495+00:00Sermon for Ash Wednesday (Rev'd Anne Cunliffe) 6 March 2019<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">John 8: 1 - 11</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">I wonder what Jesus is
writing in the dust?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
In today’s gospel, we have a wonderful example of the mercy of God as Jesus
forgives the woman caught in adultery. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Apparently, the story
was missing from the earliest manuscripts of John’s gospel - it appeared later.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Some scholars have
argued that the delay in accepting the story as part of the gospel reflects the
difficulty many people had about Jesus’s response to this situation- about the
way in which he readily and without question sets the woman free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
It was a response which was totally at odds with the strict penitential
practices of the early church. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It reflects an old
problem many people had with Jesus and have with God, there are those who find
it impossible to believe in what Graham Greene calls, ‘the awful strangeness of
God’s mercy.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
In the gospel story the woman is caught committing adultery - it takes two to
do that! The man - he is nowhere to be seen. It seems he is quite happy to exit
stage left and leave the woman alone in the hands of the scribes and Pharisees.
Let her take the punishment!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">These men know the law
of Moses states, ‘if a man has intercourse with another’s wife, both of them,
the man and the woman shall die; thus purging the evil from Israel.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Though we might view it differently today, the minute the story begins our
judgemental minds start working. Without knowing all the facts we can quickly
make wrong assumptions about what has happened and what should happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
As far as the scribes and Pharisees are concerned there’s no question about
what must happen - the law is on their side - the woman must die. Yet they have
violated the law by arresting the woman without the man.<br />
In situations like this a kind of ceremony had to be done in order to bring
judgement. Part of the ceremony required the priest to stoop down and write the
law that had been broken along with names of the accused in the dust. This was
often done in the dust on the floor of the Temple. Wherever it was done the
marks must not be permanent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Jesus would also be familiar, as would the scribes and Pharisees of the words
from the 17th chapter of Jeremiah and the 13th verse (pointing to the coming of
the Messiah) ‘Lord, you are the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put
to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they
have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
I wonder what Jesus is thinking? I wonder whose name or <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">whose names, he is
writing in the dust?<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It appears his silence
is important in this story – an uncomfortable silence with time for everyone to
begin to feel uneasy – could they hear the voice of God inside them awakening
them to their sinfulness? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">When Jesus speaks his
words are few. Jesus does not say the woman is innocent or that adultery is
acceptable or no longer an offence against God - he does say, the first person
to throw a stone must be sinless! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Or to put it another way, if we are going to get serious about the law of
Moses, we should all find ourselves guilty! One by one the woman’s accusers
slip away...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
There are no rules which if we observe them we stand right with God; there is
only his generosity. There are no conditions, only his love. All are sinners:
all may be forgiven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Jesus is not saying to the woman her adultery does not matter. Of course it
matters. It is an offence against love. But neither does he play on her guilt
or her great fear. He simply assures her that whatever she has done and for
whatever reason, she is not cut off from the love of God. The moment we want
God, we have him; the moment we turn to God recognising our sinfulness we are
met by his love and forgiveness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
This is what the Christian gospel is all about. It is not about keeping some
set of rules, or about denying our real feelings or pretending to be other than
we are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It is about responding
to a God who is revealed in the words and actions of Jesus, who brought joy to
the poor, the damaged and the sinful because he lived and died to convince them
of the certainty of God's unconditional love for each of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br />
Has no-one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go in peace and do not sin
again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In those few words, we
see the transforming quality of the love of God in Christ.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As the nameless woman
encounters Christ she has an amazing experience of his love - she moves through
sin, suffering and the threat of death to the promise of new life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Transformation for her;
I like to think too that it began a journey of transformation for all who had
witnessed this scene; yes, for all her accusers!<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Transformation – seems
to be the word I have been given for Lent. A transforming vision of God which
Keith pointed us to on Sunday in relation to the Transfiguration of Jesus.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Transforming the lives
of others as on our Lenten journey, we support the Water Aid Project, Jars of
Change & play our part in transforming the lives of those who have no
access to clean water enabling them to have water on tap for the very first
time!<br />
Transformation - Wherever we are in our life and faith right now may Lent be
for each one of us a season of transformation allowing God to change us and
make us whole.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-34552992753132190962019-02-25T11:33:00.001+00:002019-02-25T11:38:28.386+00:00Sermon for Sunday 24 February 2019 (2nd Sunday before Lent)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">LUKE 8: 22 – 25</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Living in Morecambe, I guess
that, unless you were born here, you chose to come at least partly because of
the sea. How many people moved here specifically to be near the sea?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And of the rest of us, if you
have the good fortune to take holidays, how many choose a destination at the
seaside? “Oh I do like to be beside the seaside”!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Well you can’t understand our
gospel reading this morning unless you forget all that and think of the sea not
as beautiful and inviting but as dangerous and fearful. Which is why, in our
reading from Revelation 4 it describes heaven as “a sea of glass”. We still use
that phrase. And later in Revelation, (21:1) it describes the new heaven and
the new earth as, rather puzzlingly, being without any sea. “The sea was no
more.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The people of the Bible
associated the sea with terrifying evil powers. The forces of chaos and evil
lived in the sea and anyone who lived near it were afraid of its destructive
power. They believed some primal force was behind the storms that could whip up
out of nowhere and destroy everything in its path. In our days of Tsunamis that
is a bit more understandable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And so Jesus going to sleep
(Mark’s gospel adds a nice touch “on a pillow”) is a picture of undisturbed
contentment and peace. He’s completely chilled, as if he hasn’t a care in the
world. He’s not afraid of the sea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">While Jesus calmly sleeps, a
storm sweeps down the lake, swamping the boat with water. The sailors panic and
cry out to him that they are in very real danger of drowning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I wonder what they expected of
him? Did they just think he should know beforehand if drowning was to be their
fate? Or did they have an inkling that he might be able to do something and
rescue them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Luke doesn’t record the
actual words of Jesus. But we have them in the other gospels and they sound
like he is addressing a personal force: “Peace, be still!” No wonder the
disciples asked each other: “who on earth is this?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who can speak to the created order and tell it
to ‘shut up’? What kind of power is this, greater than the power of the wind
and sea?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I’m sure the purpose of this
miracle wasn’t just a random display of power – Jesus had been tempted with that
kind of danger a short time before in the wilderness in his encounter with the Tempter
- and had resisted. There’s something else going on here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I believe he wanted the
disciples to get the message that God alone rules the waves and God alone can
defeat the demonic powers of chaos and evil. When the disciples call out “Who
is this?” they were drawn to the inevitable conclusion that in the most real
and powerful sense Jesus is God, Yahweh himself, present on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And if this Jesus can calm
the storm at sea, surely he can calm other storms that rage inside and outside of
us? The early Christians who heard this story passed down, and then read it for
themselves as the written gospels were circulated, were facing political
hostility and the threat and reality of persecution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In the face of danger, they
may well have felt buffeted, in danger of going under. They may well have been
wondering why Christ was so slow to act. Was he asleep?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">They were being reminded that
even if Jesus seemed indifferent while the boat of the church was being tossed
around, they must have faith. As long as Jesus was with them, there was no need
to fear. It was a clear message to the vulnerable church to hold firm to faith
in times of trouble. Simply because Jesus is God, he is able to bring us
through the storm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You may have heard about Asia
Bibi – the Pakistani Christian woman imprisoned on death row after she was accused
by her neighbour of blasphemy more than 8 years ago. After a lot of campaigning
by Christian groups in Pakistan, our own country and others, the original
sentence was overturned last November. But it sparked protests from
fundamentalist Islamist groups in Pakistan to the extent that she will have to her
home country and seek asylum in another country. Her lawyer has already fled in
fear of his life. This is one of many, many stories of modern persecution of
Christians and our gospel account today is very comforting to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Whether through the tempests
of persecution of the church or personal storms of illness, loss, betrayal,
bereavement, breakdown – this miracle has strengthened countless millions of
Christians down through the centuries and still does today. Christ’s words
still have an extraordinary power to bring a great calm in times of turmoil and
chaos, when we reach out in faith, however falteringly, that he is who he is,
God with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So what is our storm, we who
live in Morecambe by the sea? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Swamped with worries about
the children, the grandchildren, nieces and nephews, elderly parents? Feeling
we’re going under financially or with the pressure of work or the worry of not
having any work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Drowning under a wave of
criticism or bullying?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Floundering after hearing bad
news of an unexpected diagnosis in ourselves or someone we love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And perhaps deepest of all, the
fear we don’t often talk about - the fear of death and dying – which the
disciples knew all about in their storm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Being a disciple does not
exempt us from any of these fears. They are very natural and very real. It’s
what we do with them that counts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus says to us with all the
love of his heart: “don’t be afraid, I’m here; I’m with you in your little
boat; put your hand in mine; we’ll make this journey together and I will give
you peace on the inside (in your heart and mind), even while that storm rages
on the outside. Just trust me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So may the Lord Jesus give us
grace to walk by faith through every storm of life keeping our eyes firmly
fixed on him.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<br />Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-66126834940426902152018-08-06T08:53:00.003+01:002018-08-06T08:58:52.384+01:00Sermon for Trinity 10 on 5 August 2018<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH SUNDAY 5 AUGUST 2018 </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">EPHESIANS 4: 1 – 16<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I have just received a letter
from the Apostle Paul to Holy Trinity Poulton-le-Sands with St Laurence
Morecambe. It got a bit delayed until Tychicus realised it’s usually known as Morecambe
Parish Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Let me read you this morning
what the Apostle says:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear friends in Morecambe:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I heard about the party – all
that singing by the choir and soloists and the geriatric something or other.
They told me about those 2 old geezers with their maracas trying to accompany
Mike on the guitar. And that bloke called Michael Page who was all shook up or
something – we didn’t sing that in my day so I didn’t quite get it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And I heard about Mike’s
message last week – I couldn’t have done better myself. All that about bread
which you had again in the gospel this morning. And your presentation of that
fabulous picture Linda had painted. And that Reader of yours feeling she’d made
a fool of herself. Just tell her to get over it; she was probably expressing
what many of you felt. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I know you’re going to miss
your previous Rector, Mike, but you know, God is not leaving you; I know it’s
scary going into a vacancy but God is going to be with you. He doesn’t leave
his people to flounder, in my experience..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And thinking of you all there
in Morecambe, it reminded me of some things I said to another church that was
in a sort of vacancy in a place called Ephesus an awful long time ago. So
that’s why I’m writing to you this week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I had a lot to say to that church
in Ephesus about all that Jesus Christ had done for them and about who they
were in him. You’ve got that bit of the letter. And then I got onto talking
about some practical things. And those are the things I want to say to you
today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">1<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Maintain the unity of the Spirit<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The first thing is this: I
want you to keep united. I want you to keep together. That’s going to take
humility and gentleness and a <u>lot</u> of patience because unity is not easy.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It takes a whole load of
effort. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There’s always something or
somebody who wants to undermine it. A little misunderstanding and suddenly
you’re not speaking to each other. You get tired I know in a vacancy because
there’s so much more to do, so many more responsibilities. You suddenly realise
what the Rector did behind the scenes, without anyone noticing and it’s easy to
feel over-whelmed and then to get irritable with each other and before you know
it something has been said that you regret and it’s very hard to take it back.
My advice is, apologise quickly, put it right, don’t let things fester –
maintain the unity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I said before and I’ll say
again: bear with one another, put up with one another – even those who really
wind you up. Jesus has loved you and his Spirit living in you will help you
love them. You may not feel very loving like you do to people you like. But do
the loving thing; want the best for them and you’ll find that the feelings will
eventually follow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You know I, Paul, had rows
with people when I was a young apostle. I was so furious with my fellow worker
Barnabas because he wanted to re-instate a young guy called Mark that we went
our separate ways (Acts 15: 37). </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">But when I had time
to reflect during my long years in prison, with God’s help we put it right and
eventually Mark became one of my closest companions. (Col 4: 10 & 2 Tim 4:
11)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So maintain the unity because
“you’re all called to travel the same road and in the same direction. . . . you
have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over
all, works through all, and is present in all” Permeate everything you are and
think and do with being One.” (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The other thing I want to say
to you is that:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">2<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>God has given you everything you need for this vacancy</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I know some of my original
letter to the Ephesians sounds a bit complicated but that’s because they were
Jews like me and were familiar with what I was referring to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">You see the most important
story to us Jews was the Exodus from Egypt and how afterwards when they were
wandering in the desert, their leader Moses went up the mountain and came down
with stone tablets on which the Law was written. We thought of the Ascension of
Jesus as rather like that. Jesus had been through death and resurrection – a
new Exodus, setting us free from bondage to sin and death. And then he had
ascended to heaven and sent his Holy Spirit and now his Spirit was showering
gifts on his Church.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Well let me tell you
Morecambe Parish Church, Jesus is still sending the gifts of his Spirit on the
Church - including yours. So if you’ve got the same Spirit as we had, you can
serve like we did. It may be a different millennium but you’ll find ways that
are appropriate to your generation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In my day, God’s Spirit
equipped and sent people like me into new situations all over the Mediterranean
and we planted new churches. We were called Apostles. Some of you will be able
to tell other people about Jesus in a very natural way so that they want to
become Christians too. We called them evangelists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Some will be able to speak
truth to power; they’ll understand what’s going on in the world around you and
say things that are just right on the mark. We called them prophets. Some will
be able to open up the scriptures to you and make them live. We called them
teachers. Some will be really good listeners and take care of your needs. We
called them pastors. There are lots of other gifts God gives to the church – I
wrote about them in other letters, but these are enough for now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">They have a very special
purpose. They are to help you grow up, so you aren’t tossed about on a sea of
opinions that haven’t much to do with Christian faith v 14. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These gifts are to help you
get on with the ministry like Mike was encouraging you to last week, to keep up
with the things already established and be alert for anything else God wants
you to do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It may be a vacancy but that
doesn’t mean it’s a vacant lot in Morecambe! You’re not a vacant building;
you’re a body. And just as the ligaments in your body link all your skeleton
together, so you are linked to each other so that you pull in the same
direction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">These gifts will make the
body of Christ there in Morecambe strong, so that you become more and more
united in purpose, more and more full of the knowledge of God, more and more
like Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And so Paul ends this letter
sending us grace and peace.<span style="mso-tab-count: 7;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />Sue Kiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17632175982848381475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-31083555159606966052018-07-20T12:05:00.000+01:002018-07-23T13:22:11.492+01:00Magazine Article for July/Aug 2018<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As this is our special two-month edition of the parish
magazine, it will be my last contribution as Rector of Morecambe Parish Church.
Many of you will now know that I have been appointed as Vicar of St Nicholas’,
Beverley and Training Adviser to the Archdeaconry of the East Riding. My final
Sunday here will be July 29, and my induction service at Beverley is on 30
August at 7-30pm.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I explained in my sermon on Pentecost Sunday and also on
my blog, I knew that after Debbie died, it would not be wise to make any big
decisions for at least a year, if not two. It was important to be here to come
to terms with what had happened with people who shared my sense of loss. As we
got into 2018, however, I began to feel that my time here was drawing to a
close. Around that time some possibilities for new posts came up, and to cut a
long story short the Beverley post offered me a new start, and a job with some
new aspects to it, which I look forward to engaging with.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I have been asked if my new church is Beverley Minster - it
isn’t. The Minster is in the centre of the town and is the size of a cathedral.
There is also St Mary’s, to the north of the market place. St Nicholas’ parish
covers the most of the town on the east side of the railway line. It is a
smaller congregation than MPC, and has very different challenges in terms of
making connections with the community (there is no church school, for example).
But there is a core of very committed people who I’m looking forward to getting
to know and working with. They also said they are looking for someone musical, so I may be playing
more in services!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In theory half of my working time is parish and half to the
training role. The latter will include arranging training events and courses
for church members, people in specific roles, as well for clergy as part of
their ongoing development. There are also opportunities to help deliver some of
the courses at the York school of ministry, which will certainly stretch my
little brain! Keeping the two in balance will be a challenge, but I have done
“dual-role” before in Coventry, so at least I know the pitfalls.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ll say more about leaving Morecambe later, but for now I just
want to thank you all for your fellowship, prayers and support. The last 9
years has contained some very challenging times, as well as some wonderful moments
of celebration and joy. Thank you for sharing that with me and the other
Peatpeople. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Morecambe is a great place, and this community has character
and resilience. As I said at Pentecost, I trust that God has already provided
this church with what it needs for the vacancy, and that new opportunities and
possibilities will come in this next chapter for you, as well as for me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With all good wishes</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mike <o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-16827398468253136772018-05-27T08:00:00.000+01:002018-06-02T12:26:14.197+01:00Magazine Article for June 2018<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From time to time I get asked what the different seasonal
colours use in church and on the vestments of clergy mean. It’s like so many
things in church life. We take it for granted that things that are
familiar for us are obvious to everyone, when in fact they’re asking what is
going on and why. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Every now and then, it’s a good exercise to think about what
church must be like for someone who has no previous knowledge or experience of
it. For example, at some of our baptism preparation sessions, I show a short
Youtube clip of the old Cadbury’s Smash advert with the plastic aliens laughing
at the primitive earth people peeling and cooking potatoes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaLfSOPLMe3khPa2rD_qPL6Nd1lJP2ElbyYem4kU1q1nDSWG37csZ4yzJOxPJd0uYigOoG-INvzY9Aq6eoranxtUEJoPpdwB4hosVJWWKOni8dy2OgQv-RSxE44c2Jbc3muNc-Nqolra4/s1600/Smashmartians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="600" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaLfSOPLMe3khPa2rD_qPL6Nd1lJP2ElbyYem4kU1q1nDSWG37csZ4yzJOxPJd0uYigOoG-INvzY9Aq6eoranxtUEJoPpdwB4hosVJWWKOni8dy2OgQv-RSxE44c2Jbc3muNc-Nqolra4/s320/Smashmartians.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Then I pose these
questions: What would the aliens make of a baptism, and how might we explain
baptism to them? (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Best answers on a
postcard to…)<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You might prefer to think about some of the technical
churchy language some of us can find ourselves using. For example, can we all
identify an <i>aumbry, a ciborium, a chasuble</i>, or even a <i>vestibule</i>? Some church
people, when talking about a communion service refer to the <i>Gloria, Sanctus</i> and
<i>Agnus Dei</i>, so we’re speaking Latin even though our services are in English. And
then we refer to the <i>Eucharist</i>, which contains the <i>Kyrie Eleison</i>, and all of a
sudden we’re talking in Greek. No wonder newcomers can be confused.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the middle of June, we’re being asked nationally in the
Church of England to regard June 17<sup>th</sup> as a Sunday to invite people
to come to a church service. That’s great – and I hope you do. But moments like
that are a reminder to us all that to be truly welcoming to newcomers, we need
to go further than just a friendly smile at the door. We also need to be
befrienders, interpreters, and go the extra mile to ensure that people are
enabled to participate as freely and as fully as possible in every aspect of
our church’s life. Otherwise if we confuse people with words like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">legilium*</i>, they might be making their
escape through the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">narthex**,</i> never
to return to share in our <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">koinonia***</i>.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With all good wishes<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mike<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
* a legilium is a folding lectern or bookstand, often used
by priests for the first part of a service, before being packed away<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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** the narthex of a church is a lobby area at the west end
of a church building.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
*** koinonia is the Greek word for fellowship, sharing or
participation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-24342078424899540512018-05-21T21:36:00.002+01:002018-05-21T21:38:22.034+01:00Magazine Article for May 2018<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<!--StartFragment-->
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Friends,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are lots of things that are difficult about prayer. We
struggle over finding time, finding words, finding motivation, or even
wondering whether anyone is really listening. And I know from many
conversations over the years that people often give up altogether, rather than
have a try and feel they have failed. And a result, there is always a lurking
sense of guilt about it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, we all struggle with prayer (yes – even clergy!)
and the life stories of many of the great saints include their wrestling with
precisely this issue. That’s why it’s important to use all the resources and
help that are available for praying. There are lots of different ways to find a
way into prayer again. The traditional methods of using silence or a prayer book
will suit some, while others may prefer to be more creative and pray as they go
for a walk, or paint, or do something else spontaneous or visual. You can even pray with
technology, using websites or podcasts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, we’re all being challenged by the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York to use the period from Ascension Day to Pentecost (10-20
May) to set aside some time to pray as part of their “Thy Kingdom Come”
initiative. The focus is to pray for refreshing of God’s Holy Spirit as we
approach Pentecost Sunday, and to pray for others to come to faith, and to
reflect on how we might be part of helping someone to do that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here at MPC, we’re going to be opening church every morning
at 9am for an hour, from 10-20 May, so that people can use the building to pray, and there will
be a short (15 mins) form of morning prayer said every day at 9-30am, which
everyone is welcome to join in. It’s only a small contribution in some ways,
but the mystery about prayer is that sometimes the simplest and briefest of
prayers can make all the difference in the world. Do join us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mike<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-60461503186438403202018-03-27T14:54:00.000+01:002018-06-14T22:58:43.870+01:00Magazine Article for April 2018<span style="font-size: large;">Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reminded how a lot of days of celebration have sad associations for some people. Christmas is well-known for being a time which people can find difficult, particularly for people who have been bereaved, or have experienced the breakdown of a relationship. If this is ignored, it can leave people excluded, and the celebrations can be very insensitive.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">More recently, we acknowledged similar issues in our worship on Mothering Sunday. It can be a mix of emotions for people who have no children, have a difficult relationship with their mother (or with their children) or whose mother has died. By moving the focus back to Mothering Sunday, rather than ‘Mothers Day’, we concentrated on how the church community can share in the love of God together, regardless of our human circumstances.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">However, as we look forward to Holy Week and Easter, we may be conscious of situations of suffering around our world. Over the last few months we have witnessed conflict in Syria and other locations, natural disasters, and the ongoing struggle to feed people in parts of the world affected by drought or conflict. Many might ask where is God, and what can we celebrate in such circumstances?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">When Christians observe Good Friday, they are entering into another tragic story, which has affected millions of people. As people think and pray about Jesus' death, they often have a strong sense of identifying with the pain Jesus knew. But a much greater identification is taking place. Good Friday tells us that God is not watching the events of this world like a news broadcast from a far away place. In Jesus he shows us that he is involved - present with us. The mystery of human suffering is that we are not cushioned from all harm; we can hurt each other and we can hurt ourselves. The promise of Good Friday is that our God is one who is with us, who knows our experiences first hand, and can be the inspiration by which lives can be healed and rebuilt.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Of course, Easter brings its joy and celebration of death defeated and suffering overcome. But what goes before is neither forgotten, nor is it there to spoil the party; it is all part of a bigger picture. Through Jesus, God shares our sorrows and our joys, and depending on our recent experiences, different parts of that story will make their connections with us. The important thing is that whatever you are feeling, you are not excluded.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Mike Peatman</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-49670326989435451682018-03-26T17:22:00.000+01:002018-03-27T14:54:57.678+01:00Meditation for Palm Sunday 2018<b><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+21%3A1-17&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Matthew 21:1-17 </a></b><br />
<br />
<u>"I Was Only A Child"</u><br />
<br />
He was good with children.<br />
<br />
It’s a few years ago now, but I remember him as vividly as if it was yesterday.
<br />
<br />
The first time I saw him was early on – everyone seemed to be talking about him. It was very exciting. Then, one day, my parents took me to see Jesus. I had been ill as a young child, apparently, and they wanted Jesus to bless me. I guess they thought it might protect me from any further problems. We got quite close. There was a little group of us who were kids, and I expect we were making a little bit of noise. He looked at us, and there was a delight in his eyes to see us, and I trusted him completely. We were so happy, we were laughing and giggling, but a few of his followers told us to be quiet and go away. “The teacher isn’t here for children”, they said.<br />
<br />
That’s when I first heard his voice. It was strong and clear, but with a kindness I can’t quite describe. “No!” he said in a loud voice that made everyone jump. “Let the children come to me, and don’t you dare stop them. My father’s kingdom belongs to people who follow me and trust me like children do. Learn from them”. After that, I’m sure he took an extra amount of time to talk to each of us and bless us. His disciples looked really shamefaced.<br />
<br />
When we heard that Jesus was coming in to Jerusalem just before the Passover Festival, we had to be there. My dad took me early in the day to the road into the city, quite near the gate. And we waited with great anticipation – I think my dad was as excited as I was.<br />
<br />
You could hear the crowd coming a mile off. “Hosanna! Hosanna!”, people were shouting. They had cut down palm leaves and had put branches and even their cloaks on the road. People were singing and dancing and celebrating, and we all got carried away with the atmosphere. My dad and I managed to slip in to the procession just a little bit behind Jesus and we followed him up into the city. It was as if Jesus was my hero – I felt like I would have done anything for him at that moment.<br />
<br />
The first thing Jesus did was head up to the Temple, and the next thing we knew all these people were rushing out – carrying bags of money and cages of birds. “They’re all crooks”, said my dad “about time they were taught a lesson.” Jesus was looking angry – a bit like he did when he told off his disciples about the children. “This should be a place for prayer, but you’ve turned it into a place to steal from people who are seeking my Father”, he shouted. But I wasn’t scared, because I trusted him. In fact, I thought he was brilliant.<br />
<br />
We sneaked in, and there were some more children there, and we soon made up a song and sang it about Jesus. The grown-ups in the Temple were a bit like the other ones – they complained about us. But Jesus spoke up for us again. “These children are singing the truth”, he said. “Sometimes children can hear God much more clearly than you who think you know so much. Silence them and the stones will sing!"<br />
<br />
While he was saying this, he caught my eye for a moment. I saw the kindness I had known before, even a little of the delight, but I was shocked to see something else. There was a sadness in his eyes too - a pained look that meant I knew something was wrong. Something bad was going to happen. It was the look people have when they say goodbye to go on a long journey, not knowing if – or when - they will return. I had no idea then what would lie ahead – how could I? I was just a child. But I could see what he was feeling, and for the first and only time it made me a little bit scared. Not of him, but <i>for</i> him.<br />
<br />
He needed his friends more than ever, but despite all the people round him, he seemed lonelier than I had ever seen him. He was starting something only he could do, and all I could do was treasure the memories I had and watch and wait to see what would happen.<br />
<br />
“Come on”, said Dad, “we’ve a Passover to prepare”. It would be one I would never forget.
<br />
<br />
- Mike PeatmanUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-37416449099874551572018-02-01T22:54:00.003+00:002018-02-01T22:55:24.600+00:00Video from Jono Peatman's visit on 21 Jan 2018<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "SF Optimized", system-ui, -apple-system, system-ui, ".SFNSText-Regular", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: -0.12px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
When Jono came on Jan 21 to speak to us about his work with the new CAP debt centre for Lancaster and Morecambe, he shared a video with us at the end to use to reflect and pray. It was to help us to think about how each of us helping one person can make all the difference to our world.</div>
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We said we'd post a link to it, so here it is at last.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-31239122943322682502018-01-28T17:16:00.003+00:002018-01-28T17:16:57.585+00:00Magazine Article for February 2018: LentHave you ever stopped to think why you do things the way you do? Why do you shop on that particular day, or set the table in a specific way? Why do you drive that route, when you're going to the shops? Why is your morning or evening routine the way it is?<br />
<br />
There will be good and carefully thought-out answers for these questions in some cases, but for most of us, the habits we have fallen into have just happened by accident - or we have inherited them from someone else. Of course, there are times in life when our patterns and habits get challenged - going to college, getting married and so on. But often, we just carry on, because that's what we have always done.<br />
<br />
But I have to say that some of the most positive and creative experiences I have had is when people have challenged the norms I lapse into, by asking questions or suggesting alternative ways of doing things. It's not always comfortable, but it can be very life-giving if you're brave enough to listen.<br />
<br />
For those of us with faith, we have a whole different set of habits and norms, which can be very deeply embedded in our being. The church we go to, the time of the service we attend, the pew we sit in, as well as the roles we fill or the activities we attend. If those are ever challenged by someone else, it can feel a very personal intrusion and we can find ourselves being very defensive.<br />
<br />
However, if Lent means anything, then it is a time to question, to review and probably to change. It might be a simple change - allocating a little more time to prayer, Bible study or serving God in some way. It may raise bigger questions for some of us about our priorities, our values and our commitments. It may even ask us if we are in the right place or job.<br />
<br />
But we don't have to do that work alone - I value having someone who is a spiritual director who I meet every few weeks for that sort of review conversation. If that would be helpful for you, have a word with me, Anne Cunliffe, or Sue Kiernan.<br />
<br />
That may not be for all of us, but if we're paying attention to Lent, we can't go through it without any questions being raised, or without being prompted to think again about our lives. Just remember: it's not a reason to fear. It might just be the exciting start of something new.<br />
<br />
Treasure the questions<br />
<br />
Mike Peatman<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-21104903315255198432018-01-28T17:10:00.001+00:002018-01-28T17:10:57.740+00:00Sermon for Candlemas, 28 January 2018.<b>MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH 28 JAN 2018</b><br />
<div>
<b><br /> LUKE 2: 21 – 40 CANDLEMAS</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /> Introduction</b><br />
<br />
Being fortunate enough to have a car and 2 good legs, I’m not often dependant on buses. But last week I didn’t have time to walk from Galgate to Lancaster while my car was being serviced. I might have been warmer if I had – the bus was 50 mins late. <br />
<br />
Many thoughts went through my head while I waited; gratitude for having a car; sympathy for folk who wait for buses every day and less charitable thoughts about the bus company! But also how difficult I find waiting; how impatient and crabby I get!<br />
<br />
Life is full of waiting isn’t it?<br />
<br />
- waiting for your dream job – or at least something that would be more fulfilling<br />
- waiting for the time when you can live without money worries<br />
- waiting for circumstances to change so that you will be free of some responsibility<br />
- waiting for an operation or the results of a medical examination you are dreading<br />
- waiting for God to answer a prayer<br />
<br />
Life is full of ‘waitings’, major and trivial. Some things we wait for are just vague wishes, some we long for with all our hearts. Waiting is part of life but when it comes to waiting for God, we have some things we can learn from this passage. <br />
<br />
Simeon and Anna were waiting for something God had promised over a long time. And they were part of what God wanted to do that day, because they’d waited. They’d learned to wait attentively, to live expectantly, and they had the great joy of seeing what they’d waited for.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>1 SIMEON v 25 - 35</b><br />
<br />
We don’t know if Simeon was an old man, we are only told Anna’s age. I guess we presume he is an old man because he says he’s ready to die once he’s seen the Messiah. He lived every day in expectation – will this be the day? If he was indeed an older man, maybe, as he grew more creaky and prone to illness, he might have been tempted to wonder if it really would happen in his lifetime. <br />
<br />
And how would he know which child? So many infant boys were brought by their parents to pay the usual 5 shekels to redeem the first-born. Simeon had to be always ready, always listening to the voice of God. When the day came he was there, in the place where there would be a fulfilment of the promise, where he would hear: “this is it”. <br />
<br />
Simeon takes the child in his arms, and he prays this prayer that we have had sung to us just now: the Nunct Dimitis. This beautiful prayer has been used at Evensong and Compline for more than 350 years. But actually “dismiss your servant in peace,” for Simeon meant dying not sleeping!<br />
<br />
As Simeon looks down at this child in his arms, he understands that this Jesus he has waited for, would bring salvation, not just to his own race, but to everyone: Jew and Gentile. Outsiders would find the light they are groping for; insiders would see his glory in its fullest and truest sense. He recognised this wonderful revelation in a tiny baby. This was worth waiting for; now he could go in peace.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>2 ANNA v36 - 38</b><br />
<br />
The second person here is Anna. She had also learned to wait – probably longer than Simeon. We do know that Anna was old. 84 is a good age now, but a great age then. It says she was widowed after only 7 years of marriage, so she could have been a widow for at least 60 years. <br />
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This was no ordinary lady! She was a prophet, always in the Temple day and night worshipping, fasting and praying – no mean feat for someone 84 years old! She was also waiting, waiting for the Promise to be fulfilled, waiting expectantly.<br />
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Anna was old but hadn’t ceased to hope in the Lord. She had suffered aloneness but hadn’t grown bitter. As a result, here is someone else in the right place at the right time. She didn’t have to go far because she was always there waiting in God’s presence, and speaking about him to everyone she met in the most natural way. The waiting had made her who she was.<br />
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Anna and Simeon were probably long dead before Jesus began his ministry but they played a very important part by not losing hope, always listening, speaking the truth, waiting expectantly for the promise of the Lord.<br />
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<b>3 LESSONS IN WAITING</b><br />
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At Bible Explorers last Tuesday we were studying this account and I asked the group what do we learn from these 2 people about waiting.<br />
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Here are some of the things they said:<br />
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- Waiting teaches us to stay with our convictions<br />
- Waiting helps us get our priorities right – we have to push away what isn’t important<br />
- Waiting teaches us perseverance and patience. We have to simply trust that the promise will come.<br />
- Waiting on God like Simeon and Anna, means allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us; so we take note of the nudges – do that now; go and see that person today.<br />
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It’s great what comes out of those discussions – I love it!<br />
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<b>One or two other observations about the waiting process:</b></div>
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<u> Firstly, God is not in a hurry. </u></div>
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We live in a very impatient culture that wants everything now. We hate waiting for things to happen. But this time of year in our country teaches us something very important – we can’t hurry spring. I’m longing for the daffodils and even more those long light evenings. But nature is not in a hurry – and neither is God.</div>
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<u>Secondly, waiting is not a waste of time. </u></div>
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It isn’t necessarily inactive. Years ago I read this: “When you’re waiting you are not doing nothing. You’re doing the most important something there is, you’re allowing your soul to grow up – you’re becoming what God created you to be”. (Sue Monk Kidd: When the heart waits). Waiting matures us.<br />
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<u>Thirdly, waiting is open-ended. </u></div>
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As far as we understand, Simeon and Anna did not know exactly how they would recognize the Messiah when he came; they had to wait for the nudge of the Holy Spirit. Those who had got it all worked out at the time didn’t recognize him when he came, because they were too sure they knew what they were waiting for. To wait like this, open-endedly, is not an easy way to live, because we are not in control, we have to let go of our ideas.</div>
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<b> Conclusion</b><br />
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If we want to know what direction the Lord wants us to go in and that applies to us as a church, what we should do, what he is calling us to be, we are going to have to learn to wait and listen. So let’s learn together how to wait attentively, to listen expectantly for the nudge of the Holy Spirit. <br />
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- Sue Kiernan<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-19591491534914305482017-11-01T08:00:00.000+00:002017-11-02T20:16:39.775+00:00Magazine article for November 2017: Poppies<br />
Dear Friends,<br />
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Over the years, I have been in on some interesting conversations about the whys and wherefores of wearing a poppy for the remembrance season. It’s clear that everyone on TV is now placed under huge pressure to wear a poppy. We see extra-large and sometimes bejewelled ones for X-factor judges and contestants, which has the effect of making them a fashion accessory. Poppies also seem to be appearing more and more in advance of the day itself, just like Easter eggs and Christmas decorations. I can't help thinking that this is a huge exercise in missing the point.<br />
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Please don't misunderstand me - I shall wear a (basic) poppy on Remembrance Sunday. I will do so, not because other people want me to, but because I will be remembering members of my family – one lost on the Somme in March 1918, also my grandfather who lived through nearly three years of horror in the trenches, and lived but rarely told the tale of the terrible things he witnessed.<br />
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I will remember the terrible cost of World War 2 – both military and civilian. I'll also be aware of all the casualties we have seen in recent wars, such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Although much smaller in number than the “great” wars of the 20th century, we are made all the more aware by the intense media coverage of everyone whose life is lost.<br />
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On 14 Nov, I will also remember the anniversary of the bombing of Coventry in 1940. Having lived there, the experience still casts a shadow over the city, as it must in many other cities devastated by war. I still have a vivid memory of officiating at a burial in London Road cemetery, and was shocked when I saw there the memorial by the mass grave for the hundreds of casualties. The symbolism of the burned-out old cathedral next to the new one makes Coventry a very evocative place to visit. That experience has inspired people to reach out to other communities, and hence the city is twinned with Dresden in Germany.<br />
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Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day are there “lest we forget” - lest we forget the death, losses, destruction, pain and grief of war, and lest we forget the need to work for peace and reconciliation in the future to try and avoid such things ever happening again.<br />
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I believe that wearing a poppy is a matter of personal choice, and no-one should be abused for the choice they make. The important issue is what kind of a world are we working for. The external badges we wear are surely much less important than the principles we live out in our lives.<br />
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Mike Peatman<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-77215241331355491042017-10-23T18:39:00.000+01:002017-10-23T18:39:24.793+01:00Sermon for Trinity 19 2017. Matthew 22:15-22<b id="docs-internal-guid-eaaad931-4a4e-e841-602b-0c0b3c35d0d7" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MATTHEW 22: 15 – 22</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">22 Oct 2017 </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most days on the TV or Radio news you’ll hear a journalist asking a politician a question to which there is no acceptable answer. They’ve practised the art to perfection. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A couple of weeks ago, Teresa May was asked on an LBC phone in: “If we held another referendum, which way would you vote?” Poor woman; how could she answer that one? Usually if we ask a question we want an answer. Not in this case. The journalist is only interested in setting a clever trap for her.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Pharisees in our gospel reading have found the perfect question to catch Jesus out – so they think. Whichever way he answers, they are sure he will alienate some of his followers. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The issue of paying tax to the Roman Emperor was one of the hottest topics in the Middle East in Jesus' day. Imagine how we'd like it, if people from the other end of the world, marched into our country and demanded that we pay them tax, as a reward for having stolen our land. We'd be pretty miffed. That's what the Romans had done to Palestine.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They required 10% of the grain they grew, 20% of their oil and wine harvest, 1% of any income they earned by any other means. And on top of all that the Romans imposed a poll tax, requiring a denarius, a day’s wage of every man, woman and child between the ages of 12 and 65. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maggie Thatcher discovered how nasty things can get when you impose a Poll Tax back in 1990. In Jesus day there were riots too, but the Romans were a tad more brutal. They left crosses around the countryside with dead and dying revolutionaries on them, as a warning that paying tax was compulsory, not optional. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So you can see what all his hearers knew lay in store if Jesus advocated withholding the tax. Actually at his trial a short time later, it was this very accusation that the Pharisees threw at Jesus: “He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar” (Luke 23: 2). That’s what they had wanted him to say.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the other hand, if he said it was OK to pay the poll tax he would offend the majority of his fellow countrymen who hated everything about the Roman occupation.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Their aim is to make Jesus discredit himself in his own words. Whichever way Jesus answers he's in trouble. “Got him” the Pharisees think!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They could acknowledge reluctantly v 16 that he was ‘sincere’; that his ‘teaching’ rang true; that he showed no ‘partiality’ to anyone; but it rankled that he showed no deference to their authority. However, if they think that starting with flattery will lull Jesus into a false sense of security they are mistaken.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Within seconds they are the ones scrabbling for an answer, with their carefully worked out strategy destroyed. What’s more, Jesus manages to throw a spanner between two arch enemies.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ultra orthodox Pharisees and the party of Herod, puppet of the Romans, King of Galilee, were strange bed-fellows indeed. Their differences were only forgotten in their hatred of Jesus and their desire to eliminate him.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So what's the big deal about the coin?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The reason was all down to the image on the coin. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus asked them: “Show me the coin used for paying the tax”. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I have a new pound coin. Whose image is on it? The Queen's of course. And what does it say around the edge? DG Reg FD</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dei Gratia Regina = By the grace of God; “fidei defensor” = 'Defender of the Faith').</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the case of the Jews in Palestine, this denarius coin had the image of Tiberius Caesar on it. According to Jewish law they weren't allowed to put images of human faces on their coins. Around the edge of the coin proclaiming to all the world who he was, Caesar had the words that would send a shudder through any devout Jew: “Son of the Divine, High Priest”. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Ten Commandments began with: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image.” They took that seriously. How could any Jew handle money like that? But they did. And someone brought one out of their pocket! The fact that someone possessed the coin was shameful. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">You can imagine the enigmatic expression on Jesus’ face!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We watch the scene unfold as they hand Jesus the coin like a dead rat: “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” He hasn't said anything that will get him into trouble. He's turned the question round and throws it back like a hot potato! Pardon the mixed metaphors!</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It’s Caesar’s” they reply, stating the obvious, ashamed that they carry it themselves. “Well then”, says Jesus, “give to the Emperor the things that are the Emperors” It sounds as though he was saying ‘be responsible citizens’ and that is how it has been taken by most Christians ever since. But the question hangs in the air, what does it mean if that conflicts with our allegiance to God?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Then the punch line: “give to God the things that are God’s”. His critics hadn’t mentioned God at all! Here, standing before them is the real Son of the Divine, asking “and what do you think your duty to God might be?” He has been telling parables (which we were looking at a few weeks ago), all about people who refuse to give God place in their lives and who will not recognise the Son. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now he’s asking them why they don’t use all their supposed knowledge of God to recognise the Son, and what’s more why they prevent other people from recognising him too. “Give to God the things that are God’s.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They had been playing games, keeping Caesar happy while only nodding at God. They were so devoted to keeping the commandments, keeping the Temple show on the road that God had been lost in it all. </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just like we can be so caught up with keeping the church show on the road that we wonder where God is in it all.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The challenge of Jesus then and now is that he wants the thing that is God’s – us. He wants what belongs to him – our lives. “Give to God the things that are God’s.” Our money, our time, our attention; </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">our futures, our pasts; our worship, our love.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus would very shortly share the fate of the tax rebels but Caesar’s kingdom is long forgotten now. The Kingdom of God continues, shown in the lives of all of us who, by God’s grace have “Given to God everything that belongs to God”.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">- Sue Kiernan</span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-90135811324784771482017-09-25T16:32:00.002+01:002017-10-24T10:43:24.557+01:00Magazine Article for October 2017<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jesus famously said to his disciples that the poor will
always be with them (<b><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A3-9&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Mark 14:7</a></b>). A woman came to the house of Simon the leper
and anointed Jesus with expensive perfume from an alabaster jar. Some
complained at the extravagance of this act of devotion and worship, protesting
that it could have been sold and the money shared. Jesus defends her actions,
saying that the poor will always be there, and those watching can express their
kindness to them at anytime.</span></div>
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People have struggled with this episode, seeing it as Jesus
being resigned to the economic injustices of his day, simply offering the hope
of a bit of charity. Others have suggested he was colluding with those very
inequalities. However, I believe it’s a very frank description of how human
nature works – that there will be winners and losers economically in this life,
and human selfishness and greed will make those divisions more acute and
extreme.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Poverty has many causes, of course, and in Jesus’ time,
wealth was seen as a sign of God’s blessing. The wealthy self-righteous often
saw the poor as responsible for their own fate. However, in Jesus’ world (as in
ours), poverty was much more a consequence of where in the world you were born.
Now as then, the weather, wars, natural disaster, lack of opportunities, or
even unjust trading practises leave so many in circumstances where they depend
on others for help. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In Jesus’ time the best the poor could hope for was support
from family, or the charity of strangers. Jesus clearly expected his followers
to be generous. In the early church, widows and orphans were supported. The
people held possessions in common (<b><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+2%3A42-47&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Acts 2:44-45</a></b>), and eventually organised a
kind of welfare system so some could concentrate on spreading the message, and
others on caring for the poor (<b><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+6%3A1-6&version=NRSV" target="_blank">Acts 6:1-6</a></b>). <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today churches again find themselves on the front line of
helping people in need. In Morecambe, the Foodbank and other centres for help,
such as our friends at West End Impact have been set up by Christians. Many who
volunteer and donate come from the churches. Here at MPC, we are supporting
Morecambe Bay Community Primary School in providing meals for children who need
them during the school holidays. It would be great to think that one day these
resources won’t be needed. But in the meantime, Jesus’ words that the poor will
always be with us should prompt those of us who can to campaign, give,
volunteer or help to do what we can to meet needs close at hand, as well as
those far away.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Mike Peatman <o:p></o:p></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-63363653801430383392017-09-24T15:34:00.001+01:002017-09-25T16:43:58.586+01:00Sermon for Trinity 15, 2017: The workers in the vineyard<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sermon for
Trinity 15:<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=373263622" target="_blank">Matthew 20:1-16</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">The parable of the
workers in the vineyard</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Parables are truths conveyed in story. They use scenes and
settings that would be familiar to the people hearing them, but they illustrate
and convey meaning in the form a story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">As I was saying last week, parables usually have a twist at
the end, and this parable is no exception. If you were left thinking “hang on a
minute, what about…” then I suspect that is precisely what was supposed to
happen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">I’ve read this parable many times, but I’m grateful to
Biblical writer Kenneth Bailey and his book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.eden.co.uk/shop/jesus-through-middle-eastern-eyes-pb-1121611.html" target="_blank">Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes</a></i> in helping me see a lot of things in this
passage I hadn’t noticed before, which I’d like to share this morning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">The scene at the opening of this parable is one that would
have been familiar to those listening. Workers wait in a well-known location –
probably on a main road, and perhaps near a market – for any casual labour they
can be offered. Bailey tells us this was still happening when he lived in the
Middle East. He saw Palestinians waiting on the main road near the Damascus
gate in East Jerusalem, and Israelis would come along in vans to offer work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">So back to our parable. An agreement is made that the
workers will receive a standard day’s wages for their work, and they are hired.
Later on in the morning, the owner of the vineyard returns. We’re not told why
he didn’t have enough men from his first visit; we are just told he comes back.
The men are standing – ready for action and eager to be at the front of the
queue. More unemployed hands are hired and are told they will receive what is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">just</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">right</i>. The owner does the same again at noon and 3pm. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">It begs the question why a competent vineyard owner would
keep coming back, if he knew how much work there was to do, and how many people
it would take. What’s going on? Apparently in the modern-day situation, men
would go and wait around for work in the morning, and would either be hired or
would go home. But the men here continue to stand around in the heat and
humiliation in a slight hope that work may yet materialise. And so the man
hires them. Each time, the owner says that he will be just with them. Perhaps
by this point in the story we should be asking what is really going on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Finally the ones who have been around nearly the entire
working day are found. Note it’s at the eleventh hour (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+20%3A6&version=ESV" target="_blank">20:6 ESV</a>. Many translations say five o'clock) – a phrase that has
entered our language to mean a late intervention. These are the ones who had
only the prospect of going home empty-handed to their families, having been
humiliated by the rejection and disappointment of not being hired. Their answer
to the owner tells it all – we are here “because no-one has hired us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">There’s a compassionate tone to this part of the story, but
notice the owner doesn’t just give them something. He doesn’t want to humiliate
them further with a rather public handout; instead he offers them what they
have been looking for – work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">So by the time we get to the end of verse 7, we have three
different categories of workers. One have a contract – work all day for a day’s
pay. Three groups have a promise of justice, and the last group have a job, but
with no specific promise of remuneration of any form.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">We’re now confronted with a number of surprises that Jesus’
listeners might not have expected. First in verse 8, a manager (some English
versions have words like foreman, or steward) appears. We’ve had no mention of
him so far, and it begs the question as to why he wasn’t doing the hiring,
rather than the owner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">The next one is hidden from our eyes in the version of the
Bible we have here. The original language now calls him “lord” of the vineyard.
The Greek work is kyrios. When we see the phrase “Jesus is Lord” in the Bible,
that’s the word it uses. When on page 3 in our communion service books we say
or sing Lord, have mercy, it’s the Kyrie Eleison. And the next surprising thing
the owner (lord) of the vineyard says to his manager is pay them “the wage”.
Everyone is going to receive the same!! “The wage” is a denarius – a standard
day’s pay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">The final shock is that they will be paid in reverse order.
If the first to be hired are paid and sent home, and so on, then everyone would
be happy with their lot. Paying them this way means everyone can compare.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">So at this point, you can imagine that a protest is coming,
and sure enough it surfaces in verses 11 & 12. “Not fair. We should receive
more.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">It’s worth pausing here for a moment. The first group
haven’t actually been <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">underpaid</i> –
they have been paid a day’s wage for a day’s work. It is the correct amount,
agreed at the commencement of their working day. The problem is that the others
have (in their view) been overpaid. It’s the complaint of the other brother in
the parable of the prodigal son. The generosity and grace of the vineyard owner
to the unemployed he kept finding in the market place is uncomfortable and
provocative.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Here’s how Bailey imagined the owner might respond to the
complaints:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">You have no complaint! Justice is served! I have
given you what I agreed to pay you. You are free to do what you like with what
is yours! And I am free to do what I like with what is mine! I chose to pay
these men a living wage. You will be able to go home to your wives and children
and proudly announce that you found work and have a fuII day's pay. I want
these other men to be able to walk in the doors of their houses with the same
joy in their hearts and the same money in their pockets. I want their children
and wives to be as proud of them as yours are of you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">So you worked through the heat of the day, did you?
That's fine. And what do you think I was doing during the heat of the day?
Enjoying a traditional siesta? I was on the road to and from the market-trying
to demonstrate compassion to others who, like you, are in need of employment. I
could have sent my manager to do this. I didn't! I went myself to demonstrate
solidarity with the men and help alleviate their suffering. Why are you jealous
of them and angry at me? You must understand that I am not only just – I am
also merciful and compassionate, because mercy and compassion are a part of
justice! Have you never read the servant songs of the prophet Isaiah? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoQuote" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 26.05pt; margin-top: 0mm;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">On what basis should the grace I show others irritate
you? It appears that you do not care whether or not they can preserve their
self-worth or feed their families. You want to take more for yourselves. I have
chosen to give more of myself You want to be richer the end of the day. I have
chosen to be poorer at the end of the day. Don't try to control me! Take your
just wage and get out! <sup>1</sup><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Of course, this parable was never intended to be a template
for industrial relations. Business owners would want to keep their labour costs
down, not give out extra to people. Workers would want the same hourly rate for
everyone working in the same role.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">And it’s not just in business or trade that this thinking
applies. Just think about how long it can take for communities or workplaces to
regard someone as fully part of things, rather than a newcomer. There are some
villages and towns where you can live there 20 years or more and still be an
outsider. There are some churches where you have to have been there for 20
years or more before you can go on the church council without being seen as a
pushy upstart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">But this is about grace. The undeserved and unearned
generosity of God, which can’t be parcelled up into units, portions or hourly
rates. Jesus uses a story rooted in the world of employment, trade and what we
would call economics, to show how differently God works with his people. And it
challenges us to approach people in the same way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">The owner in this parable sees justice very differently –
it’s about giving people dignity and self-respect. The legally minded would be
calculating, but the owner – and by implication God – isn’t. That tells us that
God’s grace is about lifting people up, regardless of their capacity to do so
themselves. It is not earned or merited; it is given.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">It’s also worth just noting where this parable comes in
Matthew’s gospel. It comes after the story of the rich young man, who cannot
relinquish his riches to follow Jesus. A man trapped in calculation, who cannot
accept the infinite and priceless gift of the forgiveness and grace of God. And
it’s immediately followed by Jesus predicting his own execution on the cross
and resurrection from the dead – the giving of his very self and life through
suffering in order to bring the gift of eternal life to us all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">And it’s also a warning to those who seek to control or
restrain grace. The owner won’t be swayed by the ones who had worked longest in
the vineyard to withhold or reduce the payment. In verse 15, he lays a question
before his critics – “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to
me, or are you envious because I am generous?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Finally the parable simply ends. It leaves unresolved
whether the workers were placated by the answer, infuriated or rioted. That’s
deliberate, because the parable is a story – a piece of fiction infused with
meaning. The ending of this parable, as with all of them, is the effect they
have on us, the response we make, and the way in which we are transformed. It
leaves us with questions:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Do we know, understand and appreciate the grace God has
given us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Are there ways in which we try to limit, stifle or constrain
God’s grace for others?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Are we jealous of what others have received, or thrilled and
content with what we have been given?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">May God give us grateful, generous and grace-filled hearts.
Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<sup><span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">1 </span></sup><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri ms" , sans-serif;">Bailey, Kenneth. (2008) <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. </i>SPCK</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-85671773221987017702017-09-03T20:03:00.000+01:002017-09-04T08:37:33.065+01:00Sermon for Trinity 12: Sunday 3rd September 2017<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-0bd07b33-491d-a481-1b41-23536b18ffe8" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Matt 16: 21 – 28</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wonder if you have ever overheard or been part of a conversation when you thought: ‘goodness that’s a bit over the top’. If you can pause for a second and not get swept up in it, you might ask yourself: ‘Where did all that come from?’</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well that’s a bit of what’s happening here when Jesus tells Peter to: “Get behind me Satan” v23. If you were here last week, listening to Anne’s sermon on the verses before these, you may be able to guess the answer to “where did all that come from?” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In case you weren’t, Jesus had asked his disciples: “who do people say that the Son of man is?” They give various answers – John the Baptist, one of the prophets. Then he cuts to the chase: “Who do YOU say I am?” Peter, always the first to reply, gave the right answer: “you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Peter’s moment of glory doesn’t last long, because as soon as Jesus tells his disciples what is going to be required of him, how he is about to walk right into the trap set for him in Jerusalem, where he will suffer and be killed and be raised from the dead, Peter explodes: “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” Now does it make sense why Jesus seems so furious with Peter?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It is simply too much for Peter to imagine his wise young teacher coming to such a quick and bloody end, especially an end that can be avoided. Why walk into a trap when you can turn around and walk away? Why take a risk you do not have to take? Surely, Jesus, you could heal a lot more people, preach to more people, set a lot more people free if you’d just stay out of harm’s way; take the safe option.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It strikes me as I read Stephen and Marie Shin’s last prayer letter that you could say the same to these link missionaries of ours. Aren’t there people in this country who need them to share the message? Why take 2 little boys to this dangerous country? Why take a risk they do not have to? </span></div>
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<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’ve all at least heard of people who have done risky things for the sake of others – running into a burning house to see if anyone is still alive. And less news-worthy stories of someone with a full time job who spends their free time helping that project with asylum seekers or the homeless.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can admire such people but something in us is often afraid for them, especially if we know them well. Part of us like Peter wants to protest, “God forbid! Isn’t there an easier way to do what you want to do? Do you have to take such risks? What if you get hurt?” </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter has a way of saying what the rest of us are thinking. But when he does say it, he gets this explosive answer from Jesus. “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What a shock! What did he do wrong? As far as Jesus is concerned it was the voice of the ancient Accuser, the Tempter, who from the beginning of time has offered human kind alternatives to the will of God – easier alternatives, safer alternatives, anything that tempts us to be something other than what God has called us to do and be. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In Jesus’ case it was the temptation to play safe, to skip the trip to Jerusalem and find an easier way to save the world. And it must have been a very real temptation for Jesus – or else I don’t think he would have silenced Peter so harshly. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jesus goes on to say something perhaps even more disturbing: “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”. We know that Jesus had to go to the Cross for us, so then why do </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> have to take up the cross?</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's probably something we would rather Jesus hadn’t said. So we try to get round it: let’s leave all this taking up the cross stuff to the early disciples and maybe a few more heroic people. It's quite hard enough to get up in the morning and face the challenges of the day, thank you very much. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Maybe we've been put off this verse by hearing some say: “this difficulty in my life is the cross I have to bear” but we don't see much of following Jesus in it. Or we may have seen someone denying themselves the smallest pleasures in life but when we see their souls poisoned with negativity, we think ‘surely that's not what it's about’.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-right: -0.7pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And it isn't! The key to this verse is what Jesus has said about himself in v 21 “on the third day” he will “be raised to life” His taking the Cross led to Resurrection – to LIFE. And for us, taking up the cross, also leads to life, real living.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter wanted Jesus to save his life. He couldn’t bear to think of that beautiful life being spilled, wasted. What he didn’t realise was that Jesus’ supply of life was never-ending; and the more he gave of himself, the more he had to give; that when Jesus was raised from the dead, his life would be poured out, through the Holy Spirit, into all the world and into us.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The secret of Jesus’ hard words here is that the way to have abundant life is not to save it but to spend it, to give it away, because life cannot be shut up and saved anymore than a bird or a butterfly can be put in a box and stuck on a shelf. It has to be set free in order to live - and fly.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If we let our fear of suffering and death keep us from sticking our neck out, from taking the risks that make life worth living, we will save our own lives, yes, but we will lose something very precious - living a life that matters, a life for Christ’s sake. </span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is quite a lot of pain involved in living this life especially in a world that counts on our fear of death to keep us in line. To follow Jesus means receiving our lives as gifts instead of guarding them as possessions. It means sharing the life we have been given instead of bottling it up for our own consumption.</span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But a life that pours itself out for others, without hardly thinking about it, knows that there is always more life where that came from, and even when our own lives run out God will have more life in store for us, because our God is a God who never runs out of life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sue Kiernan. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">3 Sep 2017</span></span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-60135363607532130242017-03-21T16:43:00.000+00:002017-03-21T16:57:32.139+00:00Sermon for Lent 3 2017: The Woman At The Well<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>19 March 2017<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=357115432" target="_blank">Exodus 17: 1 – 7</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=357115386" target="_blank">John 4: 5 – 42</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The story of the Woman at the
Well has a very odd ending. We are left in the air. She had brought her
townspeople to meet Jesus and many of them believed in him v 39, so much so
that they persuaded him to stay longer. But the woman - what about her? We are
not told if she believed that he is the Saviour of the world or whether she was
left dithering and undecided. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And the story of the journey
of the people of Israel is also full of dithering, indecisiveness. For a short
while after they came through the Red Sea all was hunky- dory. Their pursuers
had drowned, they were delivered and all was happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But it wasn’t long before
difficulties made them miserable and grumpy. They were short of water, and when
they do find some, it is bitter. They grumble and complain to Moses about God.
God shows Moses how to turn it sweet and drinkable; back to happiness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">A few miles further on they
are hungry. They’d probably finished the supplies they’d brought from Egypt, so
what do they expect to find in a desert? They grumble and complain to Moses
about God. So God rains down bread from heaven in the form of manna, to be
freshly baked every day. And quails were driven in on the wind for supper; back
to happiness.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But they get sick of it and
are miserable and grumpy again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">By the time we get to the
chapter we had read to us, Moses is tearing his hair out. Wouldn’t you be?
They’d run out of water again. Guess what? They grumble and complain to Moses about
God - again. No wonder Moses says to the Lord, v 4 “what shall I do with these
people?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So God had him strike the
rock of Horeb and water came out. Even the name they gave the place reflected
their attitude: ‘quarrel’ and ‘test’. These fractious people had not really
decided to trust God. They would only trust God if He did everything they
wanted. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">So when a new challenge is
given them it throws them into a panic and they pick a quarrel with Moses. ‘Let
Moses do the believing in God for us!’ They were behaving like infants,
refusing to make the decision for themselves. They had all these opportunities
to trust God and they just dithered and wouldn’t commit themselves to this God
who had done so much for them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Back to the Woman at the
Well! You would have thought that given half the chance to talk to Jesus face
to face, she wouldn’t dither. But the conversation is full of avoidance. All
the way through she is trying to put Jesus off; keeping him at a distance,
keeping the conversation jokey.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Jesus has broken all the
customs of the day for a Jew. He asks a favour of a Samaritan, a race despised
by the Jews, and a woman at that. And what’s more, a woman of questionable
morality – why else would she come on her own at midday instead of with her
community in the cool of the morning? Jesus is breaking down all the barriers
of race and gender and social norms. So perhaps it’s not surprising she puts
her defences up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">She’s resorts to what she’s
good at - the quick repartee: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“How is it that you, a Jew,
ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” She comes off the page as cheeky, even
flirtatious.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Jesus at first responds
with warmth and humour but everything he says has a serious point to it. She
resists his seriousness, cleverly turning what he says into a debate about
their mutual ancestor Jacob. Anything to keep the conversation away from her
own personal circumstances!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But Jesus won’t let her get
away with it – every time she tries to turn the conversation away from the
personal, Jesus brings it back. “Go call your husband!” (v 16) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">She finds herself being
confronted with what she has been so carefully keeping from him and she has to
name her shame: “I have no husband”. The superficial way she usually converses
with people is gone. She’s left completely exposed before the only person who
has ever shown real understanding and acceptance for who she is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">She can’t bear that
penetrating gaze for long and switches back again to discussion, to keeping it
all at the level of the mind – a safe place to run when the gaze of Christ
becomes too personal. But Jesus wants our hearts as well as our minds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">“God is Spirit” says Jesus to
her “and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” The Spirit
has a way of getting behind our defences and showing us the truth about
ourselves and the truth of God’s unconditional love, poured out like living
water slaking our thirst for reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But she’s not ready. For one
last time she clings on to the safe, the impersonal. “I know the Messiah is
coming – he’ll tell us everything.” But it’s something that belongs to a time
in the future; it can’t change anything for me now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, to this Samaritan woman, to this
outsider, this nobody who hasn’t shown any evidence of believing him, Jesus
says the same words that God used in revealing himself to Moses in the desert:
‘I AM’, I AM He. I am the one you’ve been avoiding but the one you are really
looking for. And for a moment all her defences come crashing down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">What will she do? The moment
of truth is here, the Truth about everything, is now standing there right in
front of her, demanding a decision. And she runs away. She runs to find people
who will make the decision for her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">For the first time in her
life they listen, they give her the respect she’s craved for so long. They go
to find this Messiah for themselves and they believe, (v 42) no longer because
of what she said but because they’d heard for themselves and know “this is
truly the Saviour of the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Perhaps she just can’t
believe that her life can change - just like that, that she is being offered
salvation so easily, so freely. We are left wondering - did she allow the waves
of God’s grace to overwhelm her, or did she do what the Israelites did and
refuse the invitation to trust? We will never know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But we can end the story for
ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How will we decide? Keep
Jesus at a distance or respond to the offer he makes: “the water I give will
become in you a spring of water gushing up to eternal life” v 14<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>Sue Kiernan</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-56275008758157451432017-02-21T11:38:00.000+00:002017-10-24T10:43:40.338+01:00Magazine Article: Marriage and Same-Sex Relationships report<i>This is the article I wrote for the magazine about the House of Bishops report on marriage and sexuality. Since then, the report has been debated, and the Synod voted not to 'take note' of it, which means there is now a commitment to do more work on the issue.</i><br />
<br />
Dear Friends<br />
<br />
As I write this, the General Synod of the Church of England will be holding a ‘take note’ debate about the House of Bishops report called ‘Marriage and Same Sex Relationships after the Shared Conversations’, known as <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/3863472/gs-2055-marriage-and-same-sex-relationships-after-the-shared-conversations-report-from-the-house-of-bishops.pdf">GS2055</a>.<br />
<br />
Questions around sexuality and marriage, and the church’s official stance on homosexual relationships has been headline material since at least the 1980s. In 1991, the Issues in Human Sexuality report<sup>1</sup> stated that sexual relations were only appropriate within heterosexual marriage, yet the church should welcome and value LGBT people. It was accused of double standards, as it was more tolerant of gay relationships amongst the laity than the clergy. However, when the law changed to allow people of the same gender to enter civil partnerships, and subsequently to marry, new questions faced the Church, including:<br />
<ul>
<li>Would marriage of same-sex couples be allowed in church?</li>
<li>Would there be any official provision for blessing/dedicating civil partnerships or civil marriages of same-sex couples?</li>
<li>Would clergy be allowed to enter civil partnerships or marry a partner of the same gender?</li>
</ul>
When the law changed, it remained illegal for the Church of England to carry out such ceremonies, and clergy are not allowed by the Bishops to bless marriages of same-sex couples<sup>2</sup>. We are allowed to pray with them, but no official prayers are provided. Gay clergy are allowed to enter civil partnerships, as long as they comply with the church’s teaching, but have been disciplined for marrying their partner, as it is seen by the Bishops as undermining the church’s teaching on marriage.<br />
<br />
For the last 2 years, ‘<a href="http://www.sharedconversations.org/">Shared Conversations</a>’ brought people together from all viewpoints, to enable open and honest discussion of faith, marriage and sexuality. It was hoped that a new way forward might emerge. The latest report has been prepared for the Synod from those conversations.<br />
<br />
In the event, GS2055 restated the 1991 line on sexual ethics and marriage. It asked for a gentler tone in how these issues are discussed, and suggested clarification on what prayers clergy may use with couples. Criticisms of the report are that it says a lot about how difficult this issue is for the bishops, yet it doesn’t seem to say as much about the experiences and struggles of LGBT people in the church. It could be stronger on acknowledging the presence and contribution of LGBT members of the Body of Christ. As some have noted, it refers to welcoming them, but they don’t need welcoming into something they are already part of. This suggests there is still ‘us and them’ thinking in the group who write the report.<br />
<br />
3 questions come out of this for me:<br />
<ol>
<li>Have we studied the questions, scriptures and discussions around these questions?</li>
<li>Have we listened to Christians who identify as LGBT, currently struggling with these issues?</li>
<li>How do we live together peaceably in fellowship when questions like this divide us?</li>
</ol>
<br />
May God give us humility and openness as we continue to learn together.<br />
<br />
Mike Peatman<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><u>Footnotes </u></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1.Issues In Human Sexuality. A Statement by the House of Bishops of the General Synod of the Church of England. December 1991. Church House Publishing. Chapter 5 can be <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media/445118/humansexualitych5.pdf">downloaded here</a>. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. The House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage can be viewed by following <a href="https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2014/02/house-of-bishops-pastoral-guidance-on-same-sex-marriage.aspx">this link</a>. Sections 12, 19-21 and 27 of the Appendix are particularly relevant. </span><br />
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-68224741519661084332017-01-30T11:42:00.000+00:002017-01-30T18:44:35.782+00:00Sermon for Candlemas, 29 Jan 2017<b>MORECAMBE PARISH CHURCH 29 JAN 2017</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>LUKE 2: 22 – 40 CANDLEMAS</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><br /></b>
<b>Introduction</b><br />
<br />
Can you guess who I’m talking about? ‘They are becoming a strain on public services’, ‘they are guilty of bed- blocking’. Oh and by the way, ‘the church is full of them’!<br />
<br />
It is true that we are becoming a nation of older people!<br />
<br />
There are more people aged over 60 now in the UK than there are under 18 years old. Over half a million are over 90! My mother is among them – she was 90 just over a week ago.<br />
<br />
So have we outgrown our usefulness? Are we just a nuisance? I include myself - as I’m one of the post war baby boomers that our government is so afraid is going to push our country’s resources over the edge.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>The old in the Christmas story</b><br />
<br />
This is very different from Jesus’ day when the average life span was 34. So the fact that there are there are some very old people in the scripture we’ve had read to us is intersting. In fact the whole Advent and Christmas story is about old people whom God expected to prepare for, and be changed by, something very new.<br />
<br />
At the beginning of the story in Luke are an elderly couple – Zechariah and Elizabeth. They are given the task of bearing a child to herald the coming of Messiah – John the Baptist.<br />
<br />
<br />
Then the Shepherds - they were not children in teatowels, not if it meant being out in the fields overnight. <br />
<br />
The Wise Men would have been old, otherwise in their culture they would not have been called wise.<br />
<br />
According to legend, Joseph was old. He certainly seems to have departed this life by the time Jesus is 30.<br />
<br />
And lastly, at the conclusion of this season of Epiphany, we have our 2 elderly characters for today – Simeon and Anna.<br />
<br />
So it seems God has not finished with us oldies yet! In fact we are to be “the midwives of the new thing God is doing” <sup>1</sup> , getting alongside the younger generation and enabling the birthing of what God wants to do next.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.atelierjanvanthoff.nl/bijbels-1/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1A_rsWibesaDE-mdan-HAz3xp1XuaFwFUnvtQLH3FnEUeTQ57xiUPKL3qAdcpgP2g6pQN_nhv1syihqf4RjX0DgGYL-wP57caS_vBjI_gfHd3DdCVX-cRtZo8-xqTek7JA5_XVIAfZa4/s320/15591-001.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
Simeon and Anna by Jan Van't Hoff</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<b>Simeon</b><br />
<br />
Let’s see if we can discover how these two old folks did that. First Simeon: <br />
<br />
He was “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.” What does that mean? Well I’m sure it didn’t mean (put hands together and look pious!) It did not mean he was so religious he was no earthly good.<br />
<br />
It’s a bit like this:<sup>2 </sup><br />
<br />
Simeon, I think, was the sort of man you wanted to be with, to hear talk about the God he prayed to, because his faith was infectious; he made your heart sing. Know some older people like that?<br />
<br />
And then v 27 Simeon was sensitive to the Spirit. “Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came in to the Temple”. He was so used to saying when he woke up in the morning, “will it be today Lord that I’ll see what you’ve promised?” that he not only went to the Temple that day at the right time, but amongst the crowds of people who would be there, he spotted the ones God had chosen. When the parents brought in the child Jesus Simeon recognised him and took him in his arms.<br />
<br />
What do you think was in his heart as he looked at that Child? Joy, gratitude, “at last”! And humility – in the opening words of his prayer you sense him saying: how could I have been the one to see this promise of the ages fulfilled? I can die happy now!<br />
<br />
Simeon was also open-hearted to everyone. He didn’t see God’s plan as only for his own nation, the Jews. He saw the responsibility of God’s people to welcome the Gentiles – everyone else in the world; he saw that God loves all nations, all peoples, equally and that his Messiah who we know as Jesus, would open the gates of heaven to all.<br />
<br />
Lastly, Simeon saw that living generously, open-heartedly like that would bring opposition from those who wanted to keep God for themselves. Those who were the religious elite would not take kindly to having their intensions and pretensions, their petty-mindedness and mean-spiritedness revealed. They would eventually crucify the One who lived like this. And this would mean immense suffering for his mother. Simeon saw it all and did not flinch from saying it as it was.<br />
<br />
Are we older people like Simeon?<br />
<br />
- the sort of people others want to be with, to hear talk about the God we pray to?<br />
- the sort of people who are sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit so we go where he wants, when he wants?<br />
- the sort of people who welcome everyone<br />
- the sort of people who do not flinch at the suffering that comes as a result of following our Crucified Lord?<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Anna</b><br />
<br />
And then there’s Anna. We may not know Simeon’s age but we do know Anna’s. She was exceptionally old for that time in history, 84!<br />
<br />
She’d been waiting a long time for God’s promise to Israel to be fulfilled. She wasn’t looking backward, she was looking forward to his redemption (v 38). It’s not clear whether, when it says ‘she never left the Temple’, it meant she lived there. Herod’s Temple in Jerusalem was a vast complex – maybe she did have a room there. But she didn’t spend time feeling sorry for herself in her old age.<br />
<br />
This was one extraordinary woman. She not only prayed, but she fasted. She took prayer very seriously – you have to if you are prepared to fast as well. It’s not easy fasting, especially when you are older, but there are different ways of doing it.<br />
<br />
I was talking to someone from another church, not in Morecambe, the other day and they are fasting for several weeks so that they can pray in a more concentrated way for their community.<br />
<br />
It doesn’t mean for them that they abstain from food altogether, but they are eating more simply, and that is helping them listen for what God has called them to do at this time.<br />
<br />
Another thing about Anna is that she talked to everybody she met about: “this Child”. She had learned while she spent time in the presence of God praying, to articulate her faith.<br />
<br />
Many of us find that difficult – but as we get older and don’t care quite so much what other people think, perhaps we can spend more time in praying and thinking and reading about what aspects of the message will make sense to the people we know so that we can share it more meaningfully.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Conclusion</b><br />
<br />
So let’s believe God has not finished with us oldies yet! We are called with Simeon and Anna to be ready, waiting, available, open to being the midwives of the new thing God is doing, enabling the birthing of what God wants to do next.<br />
<br />
<br />
- Sue Kiernan<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Notes:</b><br />
<br />
<br />
1 John Bell<br />
<br />
2 Illustration taken from Frederick BuechnerUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-83575395254148787422017-01-16T17:10:00.001+00:002017-09-04T08:33:19.973+01:00Sermon for Epiphany 2 - becoming disciples<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Sermon for Epiphany 2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">January 15, 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">John 1:29-41<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">When an organisation has been
in existence for a long time, it’s easy for it to lose sight of its priorities –
what it was set up to achieve. It can get so consumed by its day to day
activities that it loses sight of what it is there for – the vision that
created it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Last Saturday some members of
our church council met to reflect upon the vision for our church. Vision can be
a hard word to get your head round – it’s like a slippery bar of soap to get
hold of. What does it really mean, and how do you get a vision? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">A friend of mine has a great
definition for vision for organisations and groups. He says vision is the
ability to remember the purpose of the work. What are we really here for, and
how do our plans and ideas line up with that?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">It’s a wonderful coincidence,
therefore, that today’s passage is all about the fundamental purpose of the
Church. You may remember that in Matthew 28, at the end of his ministry on
earth, Jesus tells his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. It’s
the great mission statement for the whole church. And here in this passage at
the start of his ministry, we see the first people become disciples.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">But what is a disciple? Aren’t
they specially qualified expert? Well, no they’re not. The word disciple means <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">learner</i>. A disciple is not a finished
product. They are people who have decided to follow Jesus, to learn from him,
and to get to know him better and that is a lifetime’s process. You and I, if
we call ourselves Christians, are all disciples. That’s not being presumptuous,
it’s saying that we don’t know it all, but we have decided to follow Jesus, and
we’ll spend the rest of our lives learning what that means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Now our passage naturally
splits into two halves – the first half is about the one we follow, and the
second half is about following.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">The passage is packed with
titles for Jesus – Lamb of God, Son of God, Rabbi, Teacher, Messiah, Christ. There’s
a lovely 35-40 minute sermon we could have on that, but I’ll spare you this
morning! John the Baptist uses two crucial titles here, which explain why Jesus
is a compelling person to follow, and why his command through the ages to us to
help others to become disciples is worth attending to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">At the end of this first
section (verses 29-34) John says Jesus is the Son of God – in other words,
Jesus is unique. He is God entering our world, immersing himself in our
experiences. Have you ever heard someone complain about politicians or perhaps
the boss of a company, saying they don’t know what life’s really like:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“They’ve never done a proper
day’s work”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">“They don’t know what it
feels like to live here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">What they’re saying is that
the person hasn’t stood in our place, felt our pain, experienced our hardships,
walked in our footsteps. John here is making the amazing statement that God is
indeed doing that – he is standing in our place, feeling our pain, walking in
our footsteps, because he has come in Jesus. And he knows Jesus is the Son of
God, because he has witnessed the Holy Spirit descend upon him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">But at the beginning of this
passage in verse 29, John said something else which is also amazing. Here is
the Lamb of God. Lambs were slaughtered in the Jewish religion. At Passover it
would have been on an industrial scale. Sacrificed lambs were either burned as
sacrifices, or at Passover eaten as part of the sacred meal Jews share in their
homes for that important festival. Either way, it is a reference to sacrifice.
He’s saying that God through Jesus will go to any lengths, even suffering and
death, to open up his love for us, to reassure us to our value to him, and to
make his love known. Any lengths for us to become his friends.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Now I think that is a very
compelling opening for any group of Christians to start thinking about vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Then in part 2 (verses 35-41)
people actually become disciples. Now when people like me start talking about
faith-sharing, or to use that big scary word evangelism, my hunch is that many of
us here might want to opt out in our heads in some way. “I’m not academic”, “I’m
not clever”, “I’m not outgoing”, “I’m not good with words”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">I’m not a gambling man – I’ve
never even bought a National Lottery ticket, but I would bet that everyone here
has a friend. Yes? I bet that at some point you have introduced someone to a
friend. Bert, I’d like you to meet my friend Sid. Beryl, come and meet my
friend Cynthia. And you get chatting. How long have you been friends? Where did
you meet? Were you at school together, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Look at this passage – it’s
not in a religious building, and it’s not at a religious service or ceremony.
No Temple, no synagogue, no church, no cathedral. John says – look here is the
Lamb of God, and the two follow Jesus. Well it’s all right for John, he’s a bit
special. But look further down. All Jesus does is ask them to come along to
where he is staying and spend time with him. And one of them was Andrew. Now we
know Andrew is just a fisherman – no theology degree, no clever words. All he
does is go to his brother (Simon, who is renamed Peter, by the way) and brings
him and introduces him to Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">If any of us can introduce
someone to a friend of ours, then we’re already most of the way there. Sharing
our faith is simply introducing someone to a friend of ours – Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">When I was a teenager, I
wasn’t a natural churchgoer. I wasn’t interested in going to church for its own
sake – although I know some people are for the music, or the social life.
However in the youth group I went to, people introduced me to Jesus as a friend
– by talking about their experiences, their answers to prayer, by grappling with
the Bible stories about him, by sharing their questions, their struggles and
their joys. I met people whose lives were informed by, inspired by, and shaped
by the life and teaching of Jesus and that – He - excited me. They showed me
uncommon generosity and hospitality, which surprised me and made me wonder why that
was. That’s when I started attending church regularly, because I wanted to
share fellowship with others who followed him, and learn alongside them. It
wasn’t always easy (still isn’t!), but I knew I needed to be there. Someone had
introduced me to their friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">So, today’s reading asks us
all firstly whether we are disciples. In other words, are we people who have
decided to follow Jesus and who are engaged in a lifelong journey of learning
about him, getting to know him better, and living lives inspired, informed and
shaped by him. That’s quite personally challenging. And if we are, then we are
called to introduce others to this person who has become so important for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">And the test of any vision we
might have for our own church community is that it serves these aims – does it
help us to be disciples, and does it help others to become disciples. And if it
does, it will change us, our church, our community, and possibly even the wider
world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><i>Mike Peatman</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-68633175128879269742017-01-16T16:55:00.001+00:002017-01-18T12:52:51.047+00:00Sermon from Christmas Morning 2016<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">MORECAMBE PARISH
CHURCH Christmas Day 2016<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">LUKE 2: 1 – 14</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It would be hard to escape
the images of Aleppo in the media this Christmas – even if we wanted to. And I
think this tragedy which has unfolded before our eyes in Syria has a lot of
connections with the Christmas story we’ve had read to us this morning and during
the week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">1 People on the move</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Firstly people on the move. Tens
of thousands of Syrian civilians - men, women and children - with all their
belongings on their backs or on carts, waiting for evacuation from the war-zone
that Eastern Aleppo had become. Sleeping in the open in freezing temperatures,
hungry, anxious and fearful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It would have been very
similar 2000 yrs ago though the scene is not usually depicted like that on
Christmas cards. Joseph and his pregnant fiancée Mary would have been on the
move with thousands of others, carrying all they needed for the long journey,
jostled by the crowd, sleeping out in the open in the cold. Anxious that she
didn’t deliver her child till they reached safety.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">2 Tyrannical leaders<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The second thing these
different times in history have in common is tyrannical leaders. The Caesar at
the time of Jesus’ birth, Augustus, and his Governor of Syria (note that!)
Quirinius have rather a lot in common with the current President of Syria, Asad
and the president of Russia, Mr Putin – the desire to dominate and
subjugate, caring little for the
consequences of a decimated landscape and ruined lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">3 The lack of welcome<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thirdly, what is striking in
the Christmas story is still found in our world today – the lack of welcome to
those in dire need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">In Joseph’s case, he found no
room at the Inn. Whether you imagine that to be in an outhouse of a local
hotel, like Ebenezer’s Inn at our Crib Service last night or, as was more
likely, in the space under the house of relatives where the animals were kept
warm and safe - because their guest room was full; this couple of dubious morals were not made to
feel welcome when Mary was about to give birth to her firstborn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">It is incredible to me that
we haven’t allowed that story of un-welcome to pierce our consciences more.
Instead, this year the political shifts in this country and the USA have been
marked by so much suspicion and vilification, of the immigrant and refugee –
the innocent victims of war. Have we forgotten that Jesus was a refugee in
Egypt when he was about 2 years old?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">4 Those who recognise God among us<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">If all that sounds a bit
depressing on Christmas morning, it is; I make no apologies. We can only really
celebrate Christmas, God come among us, if we see what he needed then, and
needs now, to come into our world <u>for.</u><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There is light in the
darkness, hope in these familiar stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">There are always some of
God’s children who are willing and ready to recognise God’s visitation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The Shepherds – those at the
bottom of the social pile in Jesus’ day - were the least likely in anybody’s
mind to be visited by an angel choir and a display of the glory of the Lord!
The description has echoes of the glory of God filling Solomon’s Temple 2000
years previously. And it’s happening again but this time out in the fields to
these unprepared humble shepherds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">But the Shepherd’s didn’t
just sit there and revel in the privilege of such a revelation, they got up off
the ground and acted, moved, ‘went with haste to see for themselves’ what it
was all about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">And we have seen action in
the most dreadful situations over the last weeks and months in Eastern Aleppo.
The White Helmets risking their lives to dig people from the rubble after yet
another bomb blast. Doctors continuing to tend the wounded with virtually no
medical equipment after all their hospitals have been destroyed. People of good
will campaigning, urging our politicians to do all they can to broker peace, and
many all over Europe and the UK, including Lancaster taking refugee asylum
seekers into their homes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Light, hope, action, peace -
demonstrated in the lives of the most ordinary, in the most unexpected quarters
– showing that God has come to live with us, to be with us in our mess. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Let us set a place at the
table of our hearts for a refugee this Christmas – it may turn out to be Jesus.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><i>- Sue Kiernan</i></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711247498233510375.post-88151494974897629022016-12-31T08:54:00.001+00:002017-09-04T08:14:51.967+01:00Address for Carol Service 20 Dec 2016Address for Carol Service 2016<br />
<br />
<i>I was preaching from notes, rather than a full text, so this is an attempt to reconstruct what I actually said! We always include a brief address to reflect on Christmas within our Carols by Candlelight.</i><br />
<br />
I received some exciting news today. A friend of mine, Neil, has just featured in the most recent episode of Midsomer Murders! That means I know someone famous.<br />
<br />
Perhaps there are people here tonight who know someone famous, or have met a famous person. There may even be someone here who has met the Queen, or at least seen her at close range. I did once – she was much smaller than I expected, in a blue outfit, I seem to remember. The occasion was the distribution of the royal Maundy money at Coventry Cathedral. Elsie, one of my church members, received money, and very proudly told the Queen that she shared her mum's birthday. Elsie never forgot that day - well you wouldn't, would you?<br />
<br />
That made me think of the man who had a little hotel up on the moors - more of a pub with some guest rooms, I think. One snowy night, a man appeared at the door who was very smartly dressed, who requested that a room be made available for a special passenger in his car. The snow meant that the Queen would be staying, and he had a few minutes. What must he have thought?<br />
<br />
What would <u>you</u> do first if the Queen called on you? I can imagine all kinds of questions rushing across our minds. Have we hoovered the carpet? Is the loo smelly? Did we remember to buy some... It would bring out all of our anxieties and insecurities.<br />
<br />
Christmas is about a King calling long ago. He first drops in to a guest room when things were busy. There was no security man. No driver or entourage - and probably no snow. There was no fanfare before he was born. And yet this isn’t just any earthly ruler – this is the king of kings.
The Christmas stories tell us that only a few people got the message at the start – shepherds straight away, along with the innkeeper and perhaps a few from the town. Later the wise men arrive - the powerful paying homage. Herod wanted to kill the one he saw as a rival, such that they had to run away.
But largely the king who dropped in was unnoticed by the world. It was only later through his life, death and resurrection that most of learned who he really was.<br />
<br />
But Christmas is also about a King calling today.
He’s not bothered if we haven’t hoovered or washed up. He’s not looking for a room with an en suite. He won’t be fussy about the brand of tea bags we have in our caddy.
He comes to take away our fears, to reassure us in our insecurities. His love casts out all fear.
The only question he asks us today is the same question that his parents asked just over 2000 years ago. Do we have room? Do we have time? Do we have the interest? Are we prepared to make some space in our lives for him, especially if that might mean rearranging some of our spiritual and emotional furniture.
Only we can answer that question – no one else can do it for us. But each year the word who became flesh places that question before us afresh.<br />
<br />
Do we have room? Do we have time? Do we have the interest?<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0