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Virtual Worship - 30 August 2020

Take up your cross


“Take up your cross” is a phrase that creates images for me of Jesus struggling through the streets of Jerusalem dragging the cross, stumbling, falling - a picture of dejection, of ridicule, mocked as a common criminal going towards His awful execution. Its dreadful its awful but Jesus says in Matthews Gospel “If any of you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, carry your cross, and follow me.

A few weeks ago I led worship on the theme “The overflowing grace of God” - that love which is freely available for all of us. And if we respond to Gods limitless love, and take our guidance from the life and example of Jesus, we might find real challenges that face us, challenges that are out of step with the way many people think and live out their lives. And in doing so we take up our cross

Call to worship

God calls us to worship in Spirit and in Truth, as we worship we reflect on all that Jesus went through for us – and we praise God who pours out His love so generously that He goes beyond all expectations.

Hymn

Read, reflect and rejoice in the words of Amazing grace (StF 440) Judy Collins

Prayer

We pray God our Father we worship together, and even though we are separated from each other we are united as we recognise your love for us. In recent times we have been challenged in ways we never thought we would encounter, but we come to worship, confident that you don’t challenge us without giving us the means to cope and even to flourish.

And so we ask your blessing on us as we seek to understand more of your story, tough and challenging but oh so good. In Jesu’s name we pray. Amen

Gospel Reading 

Matthew 16: 21-28 (New International version)

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Prayer of confession

Lord I know that so often I can be like Peter, hearing your word but then going off on my own track, especially if your track looks rough Forgive me Lord and set me on your track

Lord I confess before you that at times I want the world; but don’t give much thought to my soul

Forgive me Lord and help me to take up my cross

Lord I confess that there are times when my selfishness just gets in the way! I can look for complications instead of just following you Forgive me Lord and help me to follow you Amen

Reflection on Matthew

Peter thought he had it sorted about who Jesus was. The disciples had been out and about and Jesus asks them “Who do people say that I am?” A range of possibilities was the answer. Elijah or one of the prophets - Jesus asks them “Who do you say that I am?” Peter says “You are the Messiah! Jesus tells Peter that it was the Holy Spirit that had revealed the truth about him - he hadn’t worked it out by himself. The part that Peter had got wrong was how Jesus would change the world. For Peter, Jesus is the conquering one who is going to drive the Romans into the sea and reclaim the land for the people!

Not so says Jesus it means suffering and rejection – well this is not what Peter wanted to hear and he jumps in to support Jesus – so he thinks “No Lord, this shall never happen to you!” Peter exclaims and Jesus recognizes Satan at work through Peter.

Jesus says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”.

Take up THEIR cross. Not the cross of execution, that is the sacrifice that Jesus makes – once – for all of us – so that we might know forgiveness for our weaknesses. – that is why He came.

Their cross – our cross is the cost of commitment that comes through our response to the offer from Jesus – come, follow me. – on a path that is chosen for us, not one that we might choose to follow.

Hymn

Reflect on the words of StF611 “Brother, sister let me serve you” 

Reading

We recognize that each of us has a cross to carry as pilgrims on a journey and Paul gives us some practical guidance on how we can carry our cross

Our Epistle reading for today – Paul’s letter to the Romans 12: 9-21(Message)

Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it… Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good…. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle… Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fuelled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant…. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality…. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up…. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody… Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

Reflection

Does this passage have a familiar ring to it? Have you heard something similar before? The answer is yes you probably have! – John the Baptist preaches in the wilderness calling for preparation and repentance and it’s radical – don’t rely on being a descendant of Abraham. This is going to be very different and in Luke 3 you will find a detailed account of this but in Verse 10 the response of the crowd is “What should we do then?” - the answer, if you have 2 coats give one away, tax collectors only take what is due – soldiers don’t use your position for personal power.

So, the preparation to follow the example of Jesus is based on the same principles that Paul recommends - be honest in love, avoid evil, don’t quit when it’s tough going.

Paul knew all about violence, about using force and intimidation to further the cause of the empire. At his conversion he was on his way to Damascus to demolish the Christian community there – and he encountered God - “Why do you persecute me?” the answer could well have been “Because this is how its done in the roman empire” - the empire promoted improvement of social standing by strength. Rome was a lawless place where rival gangs succeeded by strength – physical and mental and Paul was good at it. But following his conversion he promotes a new way of being community based on love, patience, tolerance and this is Paul’s personal Cross – to completely change his way of live and thinking - the persecutor becomes preacher!.

Alllow me to share 2 of my crosses – I never wanted to be a preacher. I tried to write a short sermon once for a service that the youth group were leading. It wasn’t good, I had no enthusiasm for it and decided afterwards that preaching wasn’t for me, our minister at the time encouraged me to think about where I was going in the church and I did . The Churches industrial centre in Bradford sounded interesting, my background was in engineering - our minister said he would make enquiries… but nothing happened and then some years later, I led a songs of praise and someone said afterwards “you’d make a good preacher” and over a period of time others said the same …it wouldn’t go away. When I started my preaching studies I rang the minister who encouraged me to think about what direction I should go and he said “I knew if you were patient the you would recognise your calling” and having been called and responded, the Spirit of God has always been there for me. There are times when I have been just like Peter the disciple, worse, but God has always been there. And the second cross was whilst walking through Bradford. It was to stop and ask a young girl who was sat on the pavement in the rain “Can I buy you a coffee and a sandwich?” sounds simple doesn’t it? At the time it was a real challenge. Our cross doesn’t have to be massive, but because God’s love shown to us in Jesus requires a response and we might be taken to a place we have never imagined. “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Prayers for others

Lord God you reproached Peter because he had only human concerns. But Peter just wanted to protect the one he loved. We pray for people the world over who find themselves in difficult situations. We pray that they would all have someone to care for them and lift them before you
Merciful God - Hear our prayer
We pray for all who are persecuted for their faith; for all who are misunderstood, for asylum seekers who flee real danger in their homeland. We pray for those who work tirelessly to address wrongs
Merciful God - Hear our prayer
We pray for people whose lives don’t always work out right, through their fault or through no fault of their own
Merciful God - Hear our prayer
We pray for people in our lives who need your protection, Lord, that we will always be faithful in prayer for them
Merciful God - Hear our prayer

A prayer for ourselves

Lord when we are faced with bad news or a tricky situation, it is human to make snap judgments to do the first thing that comes into our head. Lord help us to lay aside our own judgements and always be willing to seek your wisdom

Say the Lords Prayer in the version that is your favourite

Hymn

Read the hymn (Stf 644) When our confidence is shaken
Hymn of confidence It is well with my soul


Our blessing

May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm on your face, the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again may God hold you in the palm of his hand
Amen

Irish blessing may the road rise up



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