Virtual Worship - 14 June 2020

Call to worship (based on Psalm 100)

Shout with joy to the Lord
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Know that the Lord is God
It is God who made us, and we are God’sEnter God’s gates with thanksgiving
Come into God’s courts with praise Give thanks to God and praise God’s holy name.
The Lord is good God’s love endures for ever. Amen.

Prayer

Lord God, you made us, and we are yours, we are your people, the sheep of your pasture. As we focus on you this morning, and acknowledge that your presence makes the place in which we do this (wherever it is) a holy space, touch our hearts afresh with your love, that our lips may praise you and our lives serve you in all things. Amen.

You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of, Hymn StF 363, which begins, “My Jesus, my Saviour, Lord there is none like you. All of my days I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love”.

Read Romans 5:1-8

First silently to yourself, then, if you can, out loud, from the Message Bible. I love the way in which The Message opens up some deep theological language and lets it breathe. Thus
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God” becomes “We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”

A prayerful reflection. 

Dare we ‘throw open our door to God’? Think about those things that get in the way of this. Piles of stuff behind the door. Locks and chains and bolts. Fears and anxieties about what we’ll find, who we’ll find. Will we be greeted, made welcome, will our hospitality be appreciated? Will there be anyone there, or just a card evidencing a missed delivery? Consider these things. Then, if you can, decide to take the risk, and open the door. “We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us.”

Take a moment to picture yourself “standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.” God has dealt with the stuff behind the door, the locks, the fears, the questions, and now leads us into those ‘wide open spaces of his grace and glory’. Grace-full God, pick the locks of my heart and lead me through the open door of your grace, that in your power I might stand tall, that my life might shout your praise. Amen

Read Matthew 9:35 -10:1-10

First silently to yourself, then, if you can, out loud.

Reflection.

Space place and time (where and when).

Place and space are the same but different. I’m thinking about some particular places, and the kind of spaces they can be. One place could be your church, pew, row, chair; another could be your home, living room, armchair. These places can be open or closed, safe or risky, comfortable or captivity spaces, sometimes something of all these things.

Take the seat you sit on at church (if you are someone who attends regularly and has a sense of ‘my’ seat). In pre-covid days this place was perhaps an open, safe, comfortable space. You might think of it as a ‘godly’ space, a space in which to engage with the things of God amongst God’s people. It might also be a ‘friendly’ space, where you meet people with whom you can share news, interests, conversation.

In lockdown that seat is now closed to you, except in memory and imagination.
We do not know what kind of space this seat might be in the future. If you are able to sit in it, will it still be safe, or will it be a risky? Will it be 2 metres from the next seat, and to what degree will you be able to share with those around you?

Or take your living or bed room. Pre-covid perhaps this place was one from which you ventured out into the world each day, and returned at the end of it, safe space from which to launch, comfortable space in which to rest, recover, make ready for the next day. For those key workers going out each day to ensure that care and services are continued, it may be the same. For others it may have become in lockdown a closed space, even a captivity space, and as domestic tensions rise perhaps a more risky space?

Places that were hospitality spaces can be so no longer. Places that were restful can become tiresome. For some, workplaces have gone, temporarily or permanently, and spaces that provided occupation and income have become inaccessible.

All these changes are disturbing, disconcerting, unsettling. Places are important to us, and the kind of spaces they are is significant.

In today’s readings, particularly looking at them in Eugene Peterson’s translation The Message, there are some interesting images to reflect on in these lockdown days.

In Romans 5 we read, “We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise.”
I am grateful for the imagery of open spaces, contrasting as it does with much of our current experience. And open doors, suggesting an intimacy, a running into one another’s arms, which so many of us (perhaps especially those of us who are grandparents) would love to be able to do. St Paul is writing here, in ways enhanced by Peterson’s translation, about us and God, God and us, and what Jesus Christ has made possible. He is describing a way of living, a way of being, which changes everything, and invites us to see everything differently. Standing in the wide open spaces of God’s grace and glory gives us a new perspective in which to view every other space we inhabit.
Thus, although we miss the ‘godly’ space of church or chapel, we know that home is also sacred, and that here and now (wherever and whenever you are reading this) is a place and space in which God dwells and is close to us. Although we miss the friendly space where news is shared and care expressed, we know that God’s wide open spaces encompass each and all of us, and in God’s grace we are connected.

I am aware that some of you reading this have not been able to be in church for a long time, as illness, infirmity, circumstance prevents your attendance. As you engage with us today, we ask your forgiveness that it has taken a lockdown to prompt us to include you, but we rejoice that God’s has thrown this particular door wide open, and reminded us who we are.

In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the twelve ‘to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives.’ This is not to be ‘by travelling to some far-off place’, but ‘right here in the neighbourhood.’ Tell them, he says, that ‘the kingdom of heaven is here.’ And show this through doing the things he has been doing.
This is about dwelling in the present space generously, reflecting God’s grace. ‘You have been treated generously, so live generously.’ How we dwell in a place shapes the kind of space it is. Lives which are Jesus-shaped will naturally create holy spaces, opening doors and letting the light shine in.
You might like to sing, or reflect on MP 164, Graham Kendrick’s From the sun’s rising unto the sun’s setting.

From the sun's rising
Unto the sun’s setting,
Jesus our Lord
Shall be great in the earth;
And all earth’s kingdoms
Shall be His dominion,
All of creation
Shall sing of His worth.

Let every heart, every voice,
Every tongue join with spirits ablaze;
One in His love, we will circle the world
With the song of His praise.
O, let all His people rejoice,
And let all the earth hear His voice!

To every tongue, tribe
And nation He sends us,
To make disciples,
To teach and baptise.
For all authority
To Him is given;
Now as His witnesses
We shall arise.

Come let us join with
The church from all nations,
Cross every border,
Throw wide every door;
Workers with Him
As He gathers His harvest,
Till earth’s far corners
Our Saviour adore.

CCL Licence number: 223893

Praying for others, and ourselves.

God, we pray for those who would love to enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise, in the sense of using our premises and experiencing the hospitality and welcome with which they are familiar.

For those missing Sundays, and the chance to sing, socialise, serve, support, sit together;

For those missing friends in luncheon clubs and buddy groups, fellowships and sisterhoods, weekday worship, coffee mornings, cafe and craft groups;

For children and young people missing Sunday clubs and uniformed organisations, pre-school, after-school and See & Know, Rock Solid and Youth Club;

For those with particular needs, missing opportunities to meet, share, sing, and learn.

God whose doors are open wide, in these days of closed church doors, may your people be open to their neighbours. May our lives and lips proclaim The Kingdom of heaven is here.

God, we pray for those who need to enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise, that they might find your strength and peace in times of difficulty.

For those who are anxious, troubled, or carrying burdens of responsibility for others;

For those who are unwell, waiting for test or treatment, or experiencing hospital or care home without visitors;

For those who are grieving at a time when lockdown limits what is possible in support and solace;

For those facing financial and employment uncertainty, and those stretched in supporting them;

For those in domestic difficulty, for whom constant close proximity in lockdown is increasing tension, discord, violence ;

God whose arms are always open, sustain those for whom life is particularly difficult at present, may they know your love. May our lives and lips proclaim The Kingdom of heaven is here.

God, we pray for those who enter your gates with thanksgiving and your courts with praise, whether they know it or not, as they serve their neighbours and the common good.

For those putting themselves at risk daily as their work brings them alongside those who suffer, or in exposed contact with the public;

For those carrying responsibility for political and public health decisions, for those who inform them, and for those who hold them to account;

For those supporting neighbours, working or volunteering for charities, caring for children, nurturing faith, making a difference;

God whose arms are open to all and through all, strengthen and equip all those who serve, that your will might be done in them. May our lives and lips proclaim The Kingdom of heaven is here.

We pray, with all God’s people, the Lord’s Prayer.

You might like to sing, or reflect on, Bryn Rees’ words in Hymn StF 255, HP139, The kingdom of God is justice and joy

We bless one another, those in our household and family, and those who we have touched with our prayers today, as we share the Grace:

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now and always. Amen.

(CCL No 79951)