Service sheet (pdf)
We welcome you, whether you consider yourself to be rich or poor, whether you are happy or sad, whatever your faith or if you have none. Welcome if you are having to work too hard, if you are furloughed, or if you are unemployed. Welcome if you are caring for someone sick or shielding, or enjoying lockdown, or if you are feeling completely fed up, or if you are definitely poorly. We are all children of God equally deserving of forgiveness for our wrongs, and equally deserving of love to see us through. We hope you will find something in the next forty minutes that will make you feel a more able to face the week to come.
Call to Worship
Our call to worship is from the Prophet Micah, chapter 6v8.But God has already made it plain how to live, what to do, and what GOD is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple:
Do what is fair and just to your neighbour, be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—take God seriously.
Perhaps, like me, you have been affected by the continuing anger that Black lives seem to matter less in many places in the World. This has been brought home to us with the celebration of the arrival of the Empire Windrush in 1948, last Monday. In our service this morning, we will be thinking about people who suffer discrimination. We are also pleased to be able to include two stories written by children, winners of the BBC 500-words challenge. In Matthew 21:16, Jesus quotes: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise”, and we have much to learn humbly from what these children have written.
A Collect for today
God of the rainbow and of all our colours of skin, we pray that we may so dutifully follow the example and teaching of your son, our Lord Jesus, that we may, though the use of our wealth and influence, give to all our children the breath of life, especially to those who suffer discrimination through skin colour and poverty. AmenReadings:
Our readings from the lectionary this morning are taken from Matthew’s Gospel and Paul’s letter to the RomansMatthew 10:40-42
“We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do, accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t lose out on a thing.”Romans 6:12-23
That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God.…but now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way! Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
Reflection
Some thoughts about doing the right thingJohn Wesley’s sermon on the use of money makes it clear that we must not profit by something which harms another human being, neither, indeed, anything which harms the world in which we live, that also harms our neighbour.
The money that we invest, and the money that we spend, all has effects on others. There is a difference between buying the work of a modestly paid artisan and buying the work of a wage slave in conditions that we cannot contemplate. There is a difference between lending money at interest to a company producing something of benefit to humankind or to the world, and switching money to the highest return without inquiring what the money is helping to produce. It is better, as a Christian, to go without goods or services that are produced to the detriment of someone’s health or family, than to buy them just because we want them, without making inquiry. It is better to forego return on investment than to gain from another’s detriment.
As people with spending power, we must ensure that our giving, our savings, and our buying, are all designed to benefit as many people, particularly disadvantaged people, as possible. As St. Paul says to the Romans: you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives.
A young woman called Vishal was the winner of the 10-13 age category in the BBC 500 word story challenge. Her entry was called: “The diary of a five-pound note.” This is a story told by the bank note of all the transactions in which it was involved, some were benign, some criminal, some neglectful. All the way through, the five-pound note is asking “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose in life?”
This is how the story ends:
…My latest owner was strolling through a park, and stopped in front of an old man. His clothes were ragged. He was sat on a crumpled sleeping bag on the floor.
With desperation, he begged, "Any change mate?"
I was handed over.
The man started sobbing gently.
He wept, "You just saved my life, mate."
My owner smiled.
Finally, I think I know why I'm here.
Listen to the whole story
The question raised by this story is “What is the calling of the five-pound note in your purse or wallet?”
Jesus says in Matthew 10: “The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice”.
Is becoming a true apprentice the reason why we are here? Our common experience is surely that the time and money we spend on ourselves rarely gives as much satisfaction as spending time or money kindly on the welfare of others.
A prayer for us
Lord of the Earth, it is clear that following the example of Jesus is going to be costly. Help us to prepare for the changes that we will have to make as we reflect on our duty of love towards the World, towards all our sisters and brothers living here, and towards the creation that sustains us. AmenListen to this hymn, which you perhaps don’t yet know, it is from Singing the Faith No. 662, “Have you heard God’s voice?” Written by Jacqueline Jones and sung just a few weeks ago by choir members of Christ Church, Winnetka, Illinois. You will notice that they sing the verses in a different order from the one in our book.
More guidance from a child
The gold winner in the 5 - 9 age category in the BBC 500 words competition is Shachar Applebaum with a story called “The Winning Goal”This story begins with an eight-year-old girl day-dreaming of her adult life as a professional footballer. So far so very normal. Then we discover that, instead of day dreaming, she should have been filling the water bucket for her mother in their tent in a Syrian refugee camp. That night, the camp is bombed, Shachar helps her mother escape up the mountain. In the morning they are cold and hungry. Shachar sees a bunch of figs out of reach up a tree. The story continues:
…Then I spot a rusty can amongst the rocks. I pick it up and place it about a metre away from the edge of the cliff and kick it as hard as I can. It flies up above my head, faster and faster. Then finally it strikes the middle of the branch the figs are on. The branch begins to shake, then it snaps, and the figs fall into the soft bushes below them. I feel proud as a peacock, as if I have scored the winning goal!
"Mama! I found us something to eat!"
Mama stares at me, speechless, then hugs me weakly.
We eat gleefully. Pulp and seeds go everywhere.
Maybe I will be a famous footballer one day, but for now I have mama to care for, and I have hope. That's a great start.
Listen to the whole story.
Shachar’s story is set in a refugee camp in a war zone. Few of us have first-hand experience of such a situation. This reminds us that some of the people whom we used to meet on buses, in town, in libraries or at school, have had much more difficult lives than we have had. With lock-down, we don’t even meet them in passing any more. In particular, in this country, being born black means facing multiple discrimination in almost every area of life, even if that life did not begin in a refugee camp. If we never talk to people with different life experiences, we will never understand or be able to respond in the way Jesus would want.
What would Jesus be doing about this right now? That is the question that we must address as we think of reopening our Church premises, and of reopening our lives. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman by the well, he first took the attitude that comes so naturally to us all: “I would help you but you are a Samaritan (or a refugee, or a person of low morality, or dirty, or the mess you are in is of your own doing).” He quickly changed his mind, and from that point on in his ministry he deliberately went out to the stranger, the rejected, and the despised.
In our country, people from Black, or other ethnic minorities, generally suffer worse health care, worse treatment by our police and courts, worse housing allocation, and worse education. Not everyone agrees but only by ignoring the facts, somethings that Christians should not be doing. What can we do to change this situation? We can’t stand on the sidelines watching, like the three who looked on while officer Derek Chauvin squeezed the life from George Floyd with his knee. That is not an acceptable Christian response.
Prayers for Others
Hear our prayers for those in need, great God of love, so that we too may hear them, maybe for the first time.We pray for our children in this country who go hungry every day, and for their anguished parents.
We pray for children whose skin colour provokes unpredictable hatred when they least expect it.
We pray for children who are carers for family members who are sick in body or in mind.
We pray for children whose parents are crippled by drug-taking.
We pray for children whose parents beat and abuse them.
There are so many people to pray for, Lord, that sometimes we wonder whether we are the only lucky ones.
Please help us to seek out people who have different life experiences;
Help us listen to the stories that they have to tell;
Holy Spirit, fill us with your love and kindness that we may respond to the needs we see and hear.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer updated version written by Pope Francis
Our Father who art in heaven,hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and do not let us fall into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
What would Jesus be doing?
What would Jesus be doing about this, if we gave him control of our lives?He might gather together a team of people to support asylum seekers or abused women.
He might join and support one of the many national and global organisations that aim to improve the situation.
At election time, I am sure that Jesus would be quizzing candidates to find which one would bring most love and equality to the world.
Jesus was very keen on children, as you will remember. Schools are always in need of support and governance for their work.
Jesus listened to people and learned about their needs and hopes, we do need to seek out people who live different lives and listen to their stories to learn and understand.
Above all, Jesus would regard wealth and possessions as belonging to the World.
John Wesley again, one of the highest paid preachers of all time, confessed to owning two silver teaspoons in London and two in Bristol, and while there were so many in want of bread, this, he said, was enough for any Christian.
We have challenged ourselves today, and that is uncomfortable. So, remember this: the instant that we accept the offer of Grace, our sins are forgiven, we stand complete, well able to propagate love throughout our world.
Let us close our service by listening to this lovely rendition by the Mater Dei High School virtual choir of Peter Lutkin’s version of The Lord Bless You and Keep you.
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