Virtual Worship 24 May 2020

Call to worship (based on 1 Peter 5:6-11)

Cast all your anxiety on God
because God cares for you. 
Resist the devil, stand firm in the faith 
because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. 
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 
To God be the power for ever and ever, Amen.

Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, Risen and Ascended Lord, we praise you for your promise and your power. You have promised the gift of your Spirit, and prayed protection on your people by the power of your name. You have prayed that we might be one, as you and the Father are one. Unite us in our suffering and our service, and in the assurance of eternal life that is knowing you. In these anxious times, lift our eyes and hearts to your glory, and grant us peace. Amen.

You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of, Hymn StF 317, which begins, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue confess him King of Glory now”.

Read John 17:1-11, first silently to yourself, then, if you can, out loud. 

Here we have Jesus, as often in John’s Gospel, speaking both in time and out of time. The present time sees him preparing his disciples for the trials soon to come – in the next chapter he will be arrested. Yet he also looks back to a time before time, to “the glory I had with you before the world began.” And forward, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

A prayerful reflection for us in these strange times might be to speak to God both in time and out of time. Focus first on this moment, on the realities you are living with today. People you are with, and not with, today. Problems and possibilities. Speak to God about them. Then look back, remembering how things were, giving thanks for those who shaped you, perhaps confessing past mistakes. Remember with God. And then look forward, acknowledging that although there is so much we do not know about the future, short and long term, we do know that God will be faithful. 

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Faithful God, who was, who is, who will be for ever, we praise you. Amen.

Read Acts 1:6-14, first silently to yourself, then, if you can, out loud. 

This passage has a commissioning, a parting, and a noticing. Thursday was Ascension Day, and next Sunday is Pentecost – here we sit between the two.

Reflection.

A commissioning… The apostles ask a very human question – is this the time? Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel, put things right, fulfill all your promises? We might add lift the lockdown, open the shops (and churches), contain the virus, return to normal. Is this the time, and if not, when? I hear a child’s voice, maybe mine, echoing, “Are we there yet?”

Jesus replies not with an answer, but a reminder, a promise, and a challenge, which add up to a commissioning. He reminds the apostles that it is not for them to know the times or dates of God’s plans. We might say that it’s above their paygrade. But he does promise the gift of the Holy Spirit, and with that promise comes the challenge to be his witnesses not just in Jerusalem, where they are, nor Judea and Samaria, which they know, but to the ends of the earth, that is, beyond their current knowledge, experience, even imagination.

A parting… This Easter season has given us many instances of the Risen Christ appearing to his disciples – in the garden, the upper room, on the road, by the lakeside. He has spoken peace, opened hands, broken bread, shared breakfast, he has proved to them that the teacher who was crucified spoke the truth, and has been raised from death. Yet this time must come to an end, and the disciples must move on and out and into the next chapters of God’s story. As must he. So a parting is required. High places, clouds, angels – Luke’s accounts are resonant with biblical imagery, evoking Moses, Elijah, echoing transfiguration. They say God is here, this is significant, this matters.

Partings are never easy. We know this as human beings, perhaps even more so at the current time. We do not want to release those we love. We want to have, to hold, to hold on. Thus Luke tells us, “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going”, even as the “cloud hid him from their sight”. They do not want to look away, to break contact, to acknowledge his absence, and they need Luke’s angels to challenge them, “Why do you stand here looking into the sky?”

A noticing… From the sublime to….the normal. Eyes now dragged away from the skies, it’s now a short walk from the Mount and they’re back in the city, back in the upstairs room, back together, yet two are missing. One has gone into the sky, one has betrayed. The eleven are noticed, named, as is Mary, his mother. In addition, there are his brothers, and the women, here unnamed. Luke makes us notice those who are present, it’s almost as if he takes the register. ‘Peter?’ ‘Present.’ ‘John?’ ‘Present.’ ‘Mary?’ ‘Present.’ He makes us notice.

In these corona days, as we reflect on commissioning, parting, noticing, may we look to the promised Spirit, and be ready to witness beyond our current knowledge, experience, even imagination. May we face the partings of these days in the light of that love from which nothing can separate us. And in these days of lockdown, and when we begin to emerge from them, may we notice those who are absent, and those who are present, and rejoice in the fellowship we share.

You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of, Hymn StF 297, HP 190, Brian Wren’s Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.

For Methodists, today is both Wesley Day and Aldersgate Sunday, when we remember John Wesley, Anglican Clergyman and dutiful Christian, attending a meeting at Aldersgate Street in London on May 24th 1738, where a group of Moravians were reflecting on Luther’s preface to the commentary on Romans, and where Wesley, “felt his heart strangely warmed.” It was this experience of God’s grace which shaped his ministry, and became imprinted on the Methodist church which emerged from that ministry. 

A prayer for today

Warm my heart and work my soul; question my conscience and deepen my deciding; uncomplicate my compassion and inhabit my actions; O God of grace and mercy.

We bring before God our concerns for our world: where there is war we pray for peace;
where there is sickness we pray for health;
where there is despair we pray for hope.
Cast all your anxiety on God,
because God cares for you.

We pray that God would be active in health care:
in the work of doctors and nurses, in hospitals and community, psychiatrists and psychologists, carers, administrators, pharmacists, researchers, PPE providers.
Cast all your anxiety on God,
because God cares for you

Guide our imagination in these lockdown days:
may we find ways to notice, and ways to share;
may we always honour you;
may we serve our communities.
Cast all your anxiety on God,
because God cares for you.

We hold in your love those whom we love:
those who are sick; those from whom we are parted;
those who are sorrowful; those who are anxious;
those who need guidance and direction.
Cast all your anxiety on God,
because God cares for you

Come to us, God of glory. Hear us, heal us and shine through our lives.
Cast all your anxiety on God,
because God cares for you. Amen.

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

On Wesley Day you might like to sing, or reflect on, Charles Wesley’s (brother of John) words in Hymn StF 298, HP193 which echoes with alleluias and concludes, ‘King of glory! Soul of bliss! Everlasting life is this - You to know, your power to prove, thus to sing and thus to love: Alleluia!

We bless one another, those in our household and family, those we would love to be sitting with in church, 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)