Service sheet (pdf)
Welcome to this Circuit Service from The Bradford North Methodist Circuit. I am Stuart Ayrton, a Preacher within the Circuit. On this the third Sunday of Lent, we will hear about Jesus trying to change the way the Temple works: and we are in a period within our church lives where the Church as we know it has changed, and possibly changed forever. In this new church we are reaching new people who may not come into our buildings and you are very welcome if you are watching our service for the first time.
Call to worship
Our service starts with a call to worship.Holy God, as we meet together today, we ask that you renew our love for you.
Open our eyes to see fresh things, open our ears to hear with more clarity, open our minds to recognise new ideas – that we may be willing to grow and change and to become more like your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Hymn
Our first Hymn is “I Danced in the Morning (Lord of the Dance)” from Singing the Faith number 247Prayers of Praise, Thanksgiving, and confession
God of the wise, you raise up the meek and humble who trust in you and believe in your promises, to shame the proud and haughty: we praise you for all that you have done.
God of all, you chose simple folk to speak of your glory to testify to your truth and teach the world to love: we give you thanks for all that you will do through us.
Amen.
Law-giving God, you gave us ten clear rules about belief and behaviour, in the hope that we would be obedient and follow your wisdom throughout our lives. But we confess that we have often contradicted your commandments and taken our own way, simply for our own satisfaction. We have reinterpreted your rules and complicated them to such an extent that we have forgotten their original purpose. We have used the path of compromise so often that we lose our true sense of your direction. Forgive us, Lord. Help us to find our way through the moral maze of today’s society without betraying our integrity, or your purpose.
The world is not the same as it was when those ten commandments were given, but we ask that you guide us through the life we live today, into the truth of your tomorrow. It is hard, O Lord, when the message hits home; when we see, in the sins of our forebears, our own; when getting real has toppled our self-styled crowns and the weight of guilt drags us down. But you, dear Lord, always forgive, when in the Holy Spirit we choose to live. And so, we lift our heads bare and humbled, casting aside thinking that was dark and jumbled. In your forgiveness we find the light to walk again in the path that is right.
Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
If you are watching the service, I am using a sung version of the Lord’s Prayer but if you cannot watch the service please say the version you are used to.
Hymn
Our second hymn is; “Into the Darkness of this world,” Singing the Faith 173Jesus in the Temple
The Church needs to live that love of God. It needs to love. Often the Church gets in the way of God’s love and when it gets in the way it gets it all wrong, that is what Jesus discovers in today’s reading. Would he think the same if he looked at our churches today? We have changed a lot in the face of Covid and we are moving out of our buildings to where we are needed. Imagine the most wonderful place for you to pray. Where would it be? Perhaps the countryside, or a chair at home, or a special chapel or church you know – what does it feel like to be there? What can you hear? What can you smell? What can you see? Why do (or would) you like to pray there? Now imagine a cattle and poultry market. They are right there in the middle of it. Lots of different people are selling their wares; they are calling out. What can you hear now? What can you smell and see? And now listen to the Gospel reading, read to us this week by Connie.Reading
From the Gospel according to Saint John Chapter 2 v 13 to 22.
teachers are preparing for a big Open Day when parents and friends will come to visit.
Everyone is excited. It’s the biggest moment in the school year. Suddenly the door of the head teacher’s office bursts open. In walks a pupil, with a few friends behind him. He goes straight to the desk where the secretary is organising a pile of examination scripts, and turns the desk upside down, scattering the scripts all over the room. He proceeds into the head teacher’s private room, where with a single sweep of his arm he knocks to the floor all the letters and papers, the invitations and arrangements, so carefully made for the big day that’s coming up. He turns on the astonished onlookers. ‘This whole place is a disgrace!’ he shouts. ‘It’s corrupt from top to bottom! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!’ Before he can get away, the head teacher himself arrives. ‘What right have you got to behave like this?’ he asks. ‘You can fail me if you like,’ replies the pupil. ‘You can throw me out. But I shall go to the university. I’m going to train as a lawyer. And one day I’ll put an end to corruption like this. Your system is finished!’ Then, before they can stop him, he leaves.
Now all such stories are only partly parallel to the astonishing scene in the Temple. No illustration can do justice to what Jesus did; we have to understand the event itself, unique as it was, and to understand as well what John wants us to see within it. This, too, is a moment of angels going to and fro between heaven and earth. The Temple was the beating heart of Judaism. It wasn’t just, as it were, a church on a street corner. It was the centre of worship and music, of politics and society, of national celebration and mourning. It was also the place where you would find more animals (alive and dead) than anywhere else. But, towering above all these, it was of course the place where Israel’s God, YHWH, had promised to live in the midst of his people. It was the focal point of the nation, and of the national way of life. And this was where the then unknown prophet from Galilee came in and turned everything upside down.
Reflection
Imagine the scene in a school. The pupils are all taking their end-of-year exams. Theteachers are preparing for a big Open Day when parents and friends will come to visit.
Everyone is excited. It’s the biggest moment in the school year. Suddenly the door of the head teacher’s office bursts open. In walks a pupil, with a few friends behind him. He goes straight to the desk where the secretary is organising a pile of examination scripts, and turns the desk upside down, scattering the scripts all over the room. He proceeds into the head teacher’s private room, where with a single sweep of his arm he knocks to the floor all the letters and papers, the invitations and arrangements, so carefully made for the big day that’s coming up. He turns on the astonished onlookers. ‘This whole place is a disgrace!’ he shouts. ‘It’s corrupt from top to bottom! You ought to be ashamed of yourselves!’ Before he can get away, the head teacher himself arrives. ‘What right have you got to behave like this?’ he asks. ‘You can fail me if you like,’ replies the pupil. ‘You can throw me out. But I shall go to the university. I’m going to train as a lawyer. And one day I’ll put an end to corruption like this. Your system is finished!’ Then, before they can stop him, he leaves.
Now all such stories are only partly parallel to the astonishing scene in the Temple. No illustration can do justice to what Jesus did; we have to understand the event itself, unique as it was, and to understand as well what John wants us to see within it. This, too, is a moment of angels going to and fro between heaven and earth. The Temple was the beating heart of Judaism. It wasn’t just, as it were, a church on a street corner. It was the centre of worship and music, of politics and society, of national celebration and mourning. It was also the place where you would find more animals (alive and dead) than anywhere else. But, towering above all these, it was of course the place where Israel’s God, YHWH, had promised to live in the midst of his people. It was the focal point of the nation, and of the national way of life. And this was where the then unknown prophet from Galilee came in and turned everything upside down.
People used to the Bible story can forget how shocking it must have been – which is why it’s good to find modern illustrations of similar, though hardly identical, scenes. And the questions it all raises are: what was wrong with the Temple? Why did Jesus do what he did? And what does his answer mean, when they asked him for a sign? Before even that, there’s another question to be considered. People who know the other gospels in the New Testament will realise that they contain a very similar incident. But in Matthew, Mark and Luke it occurs at the end of Jesus’ public career, when he arrives in Jerusalem for the last time, rather than at the beginning as it does here. All sorts of theories exist as to which is right – or whether, even, Jesus did something like this twice.
In favour of putting the incident at the beginning, as John does, is the fact that Matthew, Mark and Luke don’t have Jesus in Jerusalem at all during his adult life, so the final journey is the only place where it can happen. John, however, has Jesus going to and fro to Jerusalem a good deal throughout his short career. And if he had done something like this at the beginning, it would explain certain things very well: why, for instance, people came from Jerusalem to Galilee to check him out, and why, when the high priest finally decided it was time to act, they already felt they had a case against him (John 11:47–53). But there is no doubt what John thinks it all means. It is Passover time; he has already told us that Jesus is God’s Passover lamb, and now he goes to Jerusalem at the time when liberation, freedom, rescue from slavery was being celebrated. Somehow, John wants us to understand, what Jesus did in the Temple is a hint at the new meaning he is giving to Passover. This will be important for the other Passover moments in the story: in chapter 6, for instance, and of course in the final scenes, which begin in chapter 12. It’s also a hint – and a strong one – as to what Jesus thinks of the Temple itself.
Clearly, he regards it as corrupt, and under God’s judgment. The trade, the market-place atmosphere, isn’t what it was supposed to be there for. But the meaning that begins to grow here, like a seed putting out the first shoots that show what sort of a shrub it’s going to be, has to do with Jesus’ own fate. When they ask what he thinks he’s up to, and request some kind of sign to show them what it all means, he speaks, very cryptically, about his own death and resurrection. He is the true temple: he is the Word made flesh, the place where the glory of God has chosen to make his dwelling.
The Jews had ancient traditions about the Temple being destroyed and rebuilt. It had happened before, and some thought it would happen again. Herod the Great had begun a programme of rebuilding the Temple, and now, forty-six years later, one of his sons was completing it. Jesus takes the traditions and applies them to himself. He is the reality to which the Temple itself points. His death and resurrection will be the reality to which the whole Passover celebration points. In the two vivid scenes of chapter 2, John has introduced us to almost all the major themes of the gospel story, and has given us food for thought about where it is all going. But, as so often, he ends with a hint as to how people should respond. If you see the signs Jesus is doing, then trust him. Believe in him. Jesus, after all, is the one who knows you through and through. Amen.
Prayers for other people
I am using a song linked to our reading called “Inspired by Love and Anger.” The words are here for you read if you cannot access YouTube. This is not the best recording but I chose it so you can listen and concentrate of the words.Inspired by love and anger, disturbed by need and pain
Informed of God's own bias, we ask him once again
"How long must some folk suffer? How long can few folk mind?
How long dare vain self-interest turn prayer and pity blind?"
From those forever victims of heartless human greed,
Their cruel plight composes a litany of need:
"Where are the fruits of justice? Where are the signs of peace?
When is the day when prisoners and dreams find their release?"
From those forever shackled to what their wealth can buy,
The fear of lost advantage provoke the bitter cry:
"Don't query our position! Don't criticise our wealth!
Don't mention those exploited by politics and stealth!"
To God, who through the prophets proclaimed a different age,
We offer earth's indifference, its agony and rage:
"When will the wronged by righted? When will the kingdom come?
When will the world be generous to all instead of some?"
God asks, "Who will go for me? Who will extend my reach?
And who, when few will listen, will prophesy and preach?
And who, when few bid welcome, will offer all they know?
And who, when few dare follow, will walk the road I show?"
Amused in someone's kitchen, asleep in someone's boat,
Attuned to what the ancients exposed, proclaimed and wrote,
A saviour without safety, a tradesman without tools
Has come to tip the balance with fishermen and fools.
(Tune: Sally Gardens (Irish trad.) c. Wild Goose Publications, c/o The Iona Community)
Also pray for people known to you who need our prayers and God’s love at this time as we look forward to a brighter future.
Hymn
Our closing hymn is “In Christ Alone”. Singing the Faith 351Blessing
May the mystery of God enfold us, may the wisdom of God uphold us, may the fragrance of God be around us, may the brightness of God surround us, may the wonder of God renew us, may the loving of God flow through us, may the peace of God deeply move us, may the moving of God bring us peace. Amen.
(CCL 1630980)
(CCL 1630980)
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