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Virtual Worship - 25 July 2021

Parables for Bradford - Week 7


Today is the seventh Sunday of our series exploring Parables for Bradford, listening to some of the stories told by Jesus with an ear to what they might say to us in the places we live, work, worship. Today’s stories (and there are three of them) are well-known and take us into the experiences of losing and finding, of being lost and being found. We follow a lone sheep wandering away from the safety of the flock, hear a coin rolling under a cupboard, and meet a young man squandering both his present and his future. Thankfully (spoiler alert here), we also witness a shepherd searching for and finding that lost sheep, a woman sweeping until she finds the missing silver coin, and a father whose compassion makes it possible for his son to come home.

As we begin to engage with these stories, and the reactions they provoke in us, let’s notice their original context, and swallow hard. The religious people of the day are complaining about Jesus. ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them,’ they grumble. “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Religious people complaining about the hospitality and inclusivity of Jesus. Can you imagine it?

Call to worship

Psalm 146 (NIVUK)

1 Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD, my soul.
2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.

6 He is the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them –
he remains faithful for ever.
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.

9 The LORD watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
10 The LORD reigns for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the LORD.


Let us pray: God of the lost, help us to love all your children, especially those who have wandered from wise living in self-destructive ways, that together we might find sense and safety.  Amen.

Song

You might like to sing, or reflect on the words of William Kethe’s ancient Hymn at Singing the Faith No 1, All people that on earth do dwell 


As we ‘enter then his gates with praise, approach with joy his courts unto’ this morning, let’s acknowledge the judgements we sometimes make about people’s worthiness to worship. It might be we find ourselves with those religious people of Jesus’ day, grumbling about the ‘sinners’ who he has welcomed to his table, people who don’t behave or dress like us or conform, who don’t speak our language. Or it might be that we don’t feel ourselves to be worthy to worship, because of choices we have made, limitations we live with, lack of belief or faith or courage. Today’s stories will tell us that everyone is welcome, including you and me, not because of who we are or what we have or haven’t done, but because God loves us and wants us to know it!

Prayer

Let us pray: 
Welcoming God, whose arms are always open, embrace us with your love and open our arms to those around us, challenging our prejudice and easy judgements, and drawing us into your dance of delight at wanderers come home. Amen.

Reading: 


Luke 15 (NIV UK)  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.’
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.
8 ‘Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
11 Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So he divided his property between them.
13 ‘Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 ‘When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.” 20 So he got up and went to his father.
‘But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.
21 ‘The son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
22 ‘But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” So they began to celebrate.
25 ‘Meanwhile, the elder son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.”
28 ‘The elder brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
31 ‘“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Reflection. 

Our three stories today end in rejoicing, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” “Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” It’s party time. And not just for the friends and neighbours and household. Jesus says there’s rejoicing in heaven, amongst the angels, over ‘one sinner who repents’.

I’m sure that each of us knows what it is to find what was lost. The picture you knew you had somewhere; the keys you had when you locked the door; the family member who has wandered off and been missing just long enough to cause worry. We know how good it feels to find – we recognise the rejoicing. We recognise the rejoicing because we also know the losing.

Sadly some of us know the losing without finding. Some will have lost treasured possessions, more valuable for the memories they carried than their financial value, whether thrown out in error, stolen, lost in fire or flood. When Julie and I got married our brother-in-law was our photographer, taking lots of lovely pictures which we never saw because his camera was stolen from the hotel that night. It didn’t spoil the day, but it still grates years later.

And the losing without finding is harder to bear when it’s a loved one who is lost. The young man (or woman) lost to a life trapped in addiction; the victim of abuse who needs to leave all the family to escape their abuser; the refugee whose flight from persecution or poverty takes them far away from those they love. In Jesus’ story, the father looking and longing for his lost son will find him, but in some people’s stories the lost stay lost. We name this truth, and pray for those who are deeply missing, and will never forget, a missing person.

As our hearts go out to those who are lost, so, the story tells us, does God’s. The rejoicing when the wanderer does return reflects the depth of loss experienced in his absence, the father looking and longing not knowing whether his son is alive or dead. This grief is God’s, the father who so longs for his missing child. When we grieve, so does God.

After all, God knows what it is to lose a child. Jesus the storyteller is also Jesus whose own story will take him to a cross, where his father will watch him die, broken and helpless, that we might see how limitless is his love. In the words of Stuart Townend’s song we’ll hear later, ‘How deep the father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure! That he should give his only son, to make a wretch his treasure.’

I always trip over the word ‘wretch’ in that song. It feels a bit over the top in self-pity. I might sometime feel wretched, but does that make me a wretch? Perhaps we have to double back into the story of the forgiving father and his prodigal son. We might describe that son as a wretch, and yet witness his being welcomed home as a treasure! He was wretched when separated from his father, yet knew he was treasured on his homecoming.

The rejoicing we witness in the three stories today, echoed as it is by the angels, tells us how deeply God desires our company, our homecoming, our presence in the fold of God’s love. Whether we are the one or amongst the ninety-nine, the son who wandered or the one who stayed home, God desires our repentance, that is, our turning to the light we see in Jesus, that we might walk in it and know his love.

Let us pray: Welcoming God, whose arms are always open, embrace us with your love and open our arms to those around us, challenging our prejudice and easy judgements, and drawing us into your dance of delight at wanderers come home. Amen.

Song

We sing or listen to Stuart Townend’s hymn - How deep the Father’s love 

Praying for others, and ourselves.


We use Rob Hayward’s song (StF 427) as a response to our prayers: I’m accepted, I’m forgiven, I am fathered by the true and living God. I’m accepted, no condemnation, I am loved by the true and living God. There’s no guilt or fear as I draw near to the Saviour and Creator of the world. There is joy and peace as I release my worship to you, O Lord.

Loving God, we acknowledge the many ways in which we wander from your love and care. Selfish choices, harsh words, unthinking actions, conscious decisions which waste your gifts and hurt our neighbours. In worship we aspire to be Jesus-shaped, but beyond we are often far from it. Turn this prayer of repentance into changed behavior, as you fold us again in your forgiving love. 
Response: I’m accepted, I’m forgiven…….
Lord Jesus, we pray for those who have lost precious things, and even more those who have lost precious people. We pray for those whose relationships are broken by addiction, abuse, refugee flight, the choices of others. We pray for those whose own choices have taken them away from the love of family or friends. Where there is still the possibility of the lost being found, Lord Jesus show the way. Where lost means lost, grant some peace. 
Response: I’m accepted, I’m forgiven…….
Gentle Spirit, we pray for those who are grieving, both the bereaved and the abandoned; for those who are anxious and afraid, particularly as Covid restrictions are relaxed; for those who are tired, especially those who carry responsibility for others; for those who are hurting, whether in body, mind or spirit. May each know something of your cleansing and sustaining love, and so glimpse your joy and peace even in the midst of their troubles. 
Response: I’m accepted, I’m forgiven…….
Trinity of Love, Father, Son, Spirit, as we release our prayers to you may we experience the delight of being found by you, brought home by you, made safe by you. And in your company may we be released from our prejudices and fears, and freed to work for the homecoming of others, that the angels might rejoice some more! 
Response: I’m accepted, I’m forgiven…… 
Amen. 
We bring our prayers together, as we pray, with all God’s people, the Lord’s Prayer.

Song

We sing or listen to Robert Walmsley’s beautiful hymn - StF 443 – Come let us sing of a wonderful love 

We go in peace, in the power of the Spirit, to live and work to God’s praise and glory. Amen.
We bless one another, and all those we have brought to mind this day, 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.

(CCLI 79951. Service prepared by Rev’d Nick Blundell.)

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