Stay Alive in the Spirit
Week 5 - Watch and Pray
Service Sheet (pdf)
Hello, and welcome to our worship this morning – or should I say morning? I usually watch this while doing the ironing on a Sunday night, so whatever time it is and whatever day, you are most welcome to be joining us. This is week 5 of the Saints Alive series, and is titled ‘Watch and Pray’. My name is Kate Beck and I am a Local Preacher in the Bradford North circuit and a member of Baildon Methodist Church.
For our reading today we go back to Easter, which in many ways seems very appropriate, because a year ago during Easter time is when the whole world changed. Our reading is from the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus goes to watch and to pray at his time of greatest need, greatest distress and greatest change.
Over this last year our outlooks have all changed completely, not least what we are looking at when we meet with God. For many of us, going to church on a Sunday morning is a time to meet with God and we are sat in a room, with other people, with musicians, and we meet with God that way, but now we meet with God this way, looking at a screen in our front rooms, on our sofas. But there must be other ways we have met with Him this year. We have had to adapt. The church buildings have been closed but The Church has not, it cannot – The Church is the people, it is not the place; and so, how has The Church met with God this year? How have you?
As I think about that, I am going to share with you today some of the places that I have met with God in the last year. One of the great blessings of being able to do church this way is that you do not have to look at my face for the whole service, and indeed you may not see it again until the end. I hope to show you some of the outlooks, the views, that my spiritual life has thrived in during this last year.
I think about the outlook I am giving you now. This is the usual place that I sit when I am on zoom calls and meeting. I sit here on my sofa with my wallpaper behind me. I have moved away all of the blankets and the mess that my children have left here, and you cannot see the toys lining the floor on this side of the room, or my bookcases on the other side, incase you judge my literary taste! You cannot see that it has been some time since I have cleaned this room. I have chosen what to show you.
I wonder if sometimes we choose what we are showing God? We think that we need to be in the right place, in the right frame of mind, in the right attitude, before we approach Him. We think that we have to put on a show, curate what is around us and what He will see.
Reading:
Psalm 100
I was struck that it says “It is He who made us”. He made us, and so He knows us. We do not need to curate our view, to show Him just those bits of ourselves that we consider to be acceptable or not embarrassing. He made us, He knows us. He knows where we meet Him, and He knows where we struggle to meet Him. He is not ashamed of us.
This is the view from my bedroom window at my favourite time of day, when the sun is going down. It remains for me the memory of the pandemic, and the lockdown; it’s this view. Especially those first two weeks when I was unable to leave the house, when we had to stay inside, and I would sit here on my bed looking out of the window. The first thing I did was take down the net curtains so that I could see the hill, Baildon Hill over there in the distance, from down here in Saltaire. The world outside would be quiet but I would always have my window open and mostly what I could hear was ambulances going by, and it was during these times in the evening that I felt close to God, that I met with Him, that I talked to Him.
After the last supper, Jesus wanted to meet with God and he went out and up a hill to a garden at Getshemane. I guess he was tired, I guess he was exhausted really because he had had a busy week and he knew what was to come. It would have been late, but he wanted to talk with God and he knew where he wanted to do that. He knew for himself who he was and where he could best meet with his Lord, his Father. It brings me some comfort to know that I am like Jesus in this way, that if I want to meet with God then the best place for me to go is up to a high place, to be outside. It also brings me comfort to know that God is, and always has been, the same in that way. When God the Father created the world, He created a garden for people to be in and as a place for Him to meet with them, and as Jesus thinks about meeting with the Father too he heads straight for a garden at Gethsemane. God the Father and God the son, different but still the same.
God wanted to be in a garden, and to meet with Jesus there. Jesus could have gone anywhere, he could have gone to the temple, he could have stayed where he was, but he knew where his Spirit would meet best with the Father. Where do you meet best with the Father? Where does your spirit reach out to his?
This is my favourite time of day, where day meets night, those inbetween places. The liminal space that sits between the daytime and the nighttime. The Celtic Christians used to call that a touching place; a place that’s not quite day and not quite night, like a place that not quite earth and not quite heaven might be where you could meet with God, and touch both at the same time. Where is your touching place, the place where you can feel and reach and touch God most clearly?
For those long days of the first lockdown, this is where I sat, gazing out of the window, waiting for the day that I could walk up that hill. The next reading will be read from Baildon Moor, for the place where I walked to on the first day I could leave the house, and sit and look at my house from the other side of this view.
I was struck that it says “It is He who made us”. He made us, and so He knows us. We do not need to curate our view, to show Him just those bits of ourselves that we consider to be acceptable or not embarrassing. He made us, He knows us. He knows where we meet Him, and He knows where we struggle to meet Him. He is not ashamed of us.
Song
Joyful, Joyful
After the last supper, Jesus wanted to meet with God and he went out and up a hill to a garden at Getshemane. I guess he was tired, I guess he was exhausted really because he had had a busy week and he knew what was to come. It would have been late, but he wanted to talk with God and he knew where he wanted to do that. He knew for himself who he was and where he could best meet with his Lord, his Father. It brings me some comfort to know that I am like Jesus in this way, that if I want to meet with God then the best place for me to go is up to a high place, to be outside. It also brings me comfort to know that God is, and always has been, the same in that way. When God the Father created the world, He created a garden for people to be in and as a place for Him to meet with them, and as Jesus thinks about meeting with the Father too he heads straight for a garden at Gethsemane. God the Father and God the son, different but still the same.
God wanted to be in a garden, and to meet with Jesus there. Jesus could have gone anywhere, he could have gone to the temple, he could have stayed where he was, but he knew where his Spirit would meet best with the Father. Where do you meet best with the Father? Where does your spirit reach out to his?
This is my favourite time of day, where day meets night, those inbetween places. The liminal space that sits between the daytime and the nighttime. The Celtic Christians used to call that a touching place; a place that’s not quite day and not quite night, like a place that not quite earth and not quite heaven might be where you could meet with God, and touch both at the same time. Where is your touching place, the place where you can feel and reach and touch God most clearly?
For those long days of the first lockdown, this is where I sat, gazing out of the window, waiting for the day that I could walk up that hill. The next reading will be read from Baildon Moor, for the place where I walked to on the first day I could leave the house, and sit and look at my house from the other side of this view.
Song
Now as the green blade riseth
Reading:
Mark 14 vs 32-42 (New International Version)
I have read that passage many times on a Maundy Thursday, and for many years all I came from it with was a feeling of guilt. Guilt that I was a disciple who fell asleep, guilt that I couldn’t stay awake for one hour. I came away feeling inadequate, and as if I had let Jesus down. I think, for many years, I took Maundy Thursday as being the day to wallow in those feelings of inadequacy; my prayer was not good enough, my Spirituality was not strong enough, I did not give God enough. But one year I read it again and I was prepared to feel my annual guilt and shame, and my annual marathon task of staying awake and praying for one hour, like some kind of Christian ‘Just a Minute’ where I should pray for one hour without hesitation, deviation or repetition. But when I read it I was shocked that it was not what I felt. What I felt was a Jesus that was patient, and who kept coming back. A Jesus who was forgiving, who said “Rise, let us go!”, as if to say “Don’t stay here and wallow, there’s more to do, let’s go”. A Jesus who says *here* comes my betrayer, who doesn’t say *you* are my betrayer, you have failed me. No, he sees what they are doing and he sees that they have tried. They have tried for as much as their body will allow them to, and this is enough for him. He says ‘Let us go’, he doesn’t say ‘You stay here and I’ll go it alone’, he says let’s go together. He has been pleased that they have been there with him.
I feel that whatever our spiritual life has looked like in the last year, he is pleased with it. It has been what our bodies and our minds can allow us, and now he says, Rise – Let’s go, and see what’s next.
I have read that passage many times on a Maundy Thursday, and for many years all I came from it with was a feeling of guilt. Guilt that I was a disciple who fell asleep, guilt that I couldn’t stay awake for one hour. I came away feeling inadequate, and as if I had let Jesus down. I think, for many years, I took Maundy Thursday as being the day to wallow in those feelings of inadequacy; my prayer was not good enough, my Spirituality was not strong enough, I did not give God enough. But one year I read it again and I was prepared to feel my annual guilt and shame, and my annual marathon task of staying awake and praying for one hour, like some kind of Christian ‘Just a Minute’ where I should pray for one hour without hesitation, deviation or repetition. But when I read it I was shocked that it was not what I felt. What I felt was a Jesus that was patient, and who kept coming back. A Jesus who was forgiving, who said “Rise, let us go!”, as if to say “Don’t stay here and wallow, there’s more to do, let’s go”. A Jesus who says *here* comes my betrayer, who doesn’t say *you* are my betrayer, you have failed me. No, he sees what they are doing and he sees that they have tried. They have tried for as much as their body will allow them to, and this is enough for him. He says ‘Let us go’, he doesn’t say ‘You stay here and I’ll go it alone’, he says let’s go together. He has been pleased that they have been there with him.
I feel that whatever our spiritual life has looked like in the last year, he is pleased with it. It has been what our bodies and our minds can allow us, and now he says, Rise – Let’s go, and see what’s next.
Song
One more step along the world I go
Reading
Isaiah 55 vs 8-11 (The Message version)
Prayers of Intercession
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for those rainy days and for those sunny days. For those days when we feel close to you, and for those days when we barely think of you during the busy day. We thank you that through all of that, you are there with us. We thank you that even if we are the disciple who fell asleep, or the one that you had to keep coming back to, or even the one that wasn’t there, you still want us with you.
Lord, as the prayers fall upon the earth they radiate from us. Like the circles in this pond, we see s many things that we should be praying about and it can seem overwhelming. Some makes small circles in our mind, and some are bigger. It can all seem too much to pray for, and so let us start by thinking of one thing; the biggest concern on our mind, be it personal, family, country or world, we bring it before you.
We think now of all our families and friends, the ways that we have been apart and the ways that we have been together during this time. We thank you for the new ways we have been able to interact and meet and touch, and we thank you for those old ways that will soon be returning. Lord help us discern which new ways have been helpful for us, and which old ways don’t need to come back.
We think too of the ways we have met with you. Help us to reflect and know ourselves, to consider what ways we meet with you; how best, in what place, at what time. How might we share that with our community, with our friends, with those around us, so that it might help them meet with you too?
Help us to have a different outlook; in the last year we have not been able to choose what we see, but if we get to the place where we can choose again, what will we choose?
As our prayers continue to fall, we think of our country and our world, of those suffering this virus and other illness, of those impacted by it beyond measure, of those in grief, of those in relief, of those who are bored, of those who feel guilt, of those who know that things must change again and feel anxiety and fear. We thank you that you stand with us though all of this and help us to be the help to each other, help us to show this world just how much you love them and stand with them in this time.
Lord, our prayers fall like rain. Help them achieve what you have accomplished, help them achieve all you have set out. Help us to know ourselves and how to best meet with you. Help us to be able to discern the right times and places where our spirit may meet with yours, to help us hear your voice more clearly and do your work more purposefully.
We say together the Lord’s Prayer.
Song
A touching place
The answers to those questions, from each of you, tells us about how The Church has worshipped this year. The change to a recorded virtual service, and bible study groups held outside, and socially distanced groups … that tells us how the institution of the church has responded and changed due to the pandemic; but the changes in your lives, in how and where and when you have met God – that tells us how The Church has changed its outlook.
What of that do we need to embrace and keep?
I encourage you to offer God an honest outlook; an un-curated view of your Spiritual life – however refreshing and fulfilling, or however dry and meagre that may be, and hear Him say, “Rise, let’s go …. Let me tell you about what we should do together next”.
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