Virtual Worship - 20 February 2022

The service today has been prepared by Deacon Merry Evans. You are invited to join with him and with the congregation of Crag Road Methodist Church.  

Service Sheet (pdf)

Call to worship

Jesus says, “Love your enemies.”
Think about that – if you love your enemies then you don’t have any enemies!
If you love your enemies, then your enemies become your sister or brother. Is that true?

Hymn

HAP 196 STF 303 I know that my redeemer lives

Opening Prayer

Father, we thank you that we are loved by you; no matter what. You call us to let your love flow through us to other people – including those who may have hurt us. Give us the grace and compassion to do this, and give us understanding as we explore this today. Amen.

Hymn

HAP 139 STF 255 The Kingdom of God is justice and joy

Reading

In the opening verses of his gospel, Luke tells us that he wrote it for Theophilus who was a high-ranking Roman citizen it seems, and presumably one of the members of the Christian community that Luke was a part of. This Christian community -Luke’s ‘church’- was located in the Eastern end of the Mediterranean, probably somewhere in Greece or maybe what is now Turkey. Luke wrote his gospel around AD 80-90, fifty or more years after Jesus. He was relying on the various written records that had been made using the memories of those who had actually witnessed Jesus’s deeds and sayings. The stories had been told and retold verbally for decades, so in fact they only got written down many years after the events actually happened. Luke had to make the best of the material he had and he had to make it relevant to those in his Christian community and the real live issues that they faced. What were the issues they faced? Chief among them were issues of class, status and wealth. Luke has very loosely put together a collection of sayings of Jesus with a view to helping his Christian brothers and sisters understand how to behave towards one another. We can see a snapshot of Christian life in the first century AD and the challenges to their discipleship in this passage.

Luke 6: 27-38. But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’

Reflection

Class, status and power In Roman Society, were important. Across the empire, there were only a few rich and powerful citizens. Those who comprised the elite lived in Rome –the highest-ranking aristocrats were Senators Governing the Empire. The second highest level aristocrats were a group called Equestrians. Both groups had immense wealth, most of it in the form of land, estates, and of course slaves. They had great privilege too. A similar state of affairs existed in the provinces of the empire, where status, power and wealth were in the hands of those allowed to be Officials in the provincial governments, termed Decurians. Other members of the provincial elite were the Magistrates. Whoever they were, those at the ‘top’ of society regularly feasted and enjoyed lavish entertainments at public expense. It seems Luke has some high-ranking romans in his church. They will be wealthy. They will have been brought up to look down on ordinary people, even despise them, especially the poorest or the slaves. Stop for a moment. What sayings do you think that Luke has collected together here would be instructive to these wealthy and privileged members of his church?

The next level of society were the merchants and traders; and the artisans (craftsmen), and hauliers. These groups often formed local Collegias or guilds, basically social clubs (like trade associations rather than unions). These people were reasonably well off. In Luke’s ‘church’ these members of skilled workers would likely be used to entertaining one another or giving favours to one another in the expectation that they would be returned. You can see some of the sayings here would challenge these ‘middle class’ Christians to behave differently. You can almost hear Luke telling them the parable of the feast and highlighting Jesus’s words to invite the lame, the blind, the beggars to your homes for a party, not just your friends. “These are your fellow Christians! Invite them in!”

Then there were the ‘free’ workers: unskilled usually – and reliant on employment – often day labourers. They would be employed in building work (public buildings), burden carrying, message carrying, animal driving, ditch digging. A considerable number would survive by hawking various foodstuffs to passers-by. Their economic position was never secure, always precarious. Being a Christian in close proximity to those who ‘Lord it over them’ on one hand, and to those ‘who rob and cheat them’ on the other hand challenges this group very significantly. Luke tells them that “in spite of your differences you are all God’s children, and if you show mercy to one another, you will be like God himself! And go beyond looking after your own interests! And be generous to one another, don’t hold back – you’re in the same boat – Christ’s boat!”

In society if you were blind crippled or mentally disturbed you would have to rely on your relatives or on begging for support. There was no official system of welfare. Here in the Christian community though things are different. You are not cast out onto the edge of society to beg – you are brought into the heart of things and made welcome. But you need to change too. “Do to others as you would have them do to you!”

In the empire, and therefore also in this young Christian community, there were those who were not free. There were two categories. A significant number of people across the empire were in large amounts of debt. They would be held in ‘debt-bondage’ – not slavery exactly, but held while they were working off their debt, often in agricultural labour on the estates of their creditors. They only gained their old lives back after they had paid off their debt which could take years. Although not specifically mentioned in this passage, the power of the wealthy could be exercised in mercy. You could cancel the debts of those fellow Christians who were in bondage to you. Or you could pay their creditors off, pay the debt of your brother or sister in Christ, buy back their freedom, redeem them. “That’s how you should be”, says Luke, “Merciful, as your God in heaven is merciful. That’s what God’s kingdom is truly like.”

Then there were slaves- who were of course by definition ‘not free’. They were the property of their masters and had no rights and held no property of their own. These at least had food and shelter they could rely on, even if they were often poorly treated. But in the community of Christians there was to be no slavery. All were made equal in Christ. All should therefore be treated equally. Freedom could be given, and sometimes was given. But even if it was not given, then to learn to love one another, slave and master, was to be the standard. And if you are a slave to a non-Christian, how do you know how to cope with the potential abuse and poor treatment given? If they strike you on the cheek, offer the other cheek as well. Hmm, there’s challenge and dignity in that, not just passivity. It says, “Hey, I’m a child of God. You can’t take that away!”

One of the most important things to know about the economy of the Roman Empire is that there was a lot of uncertainty. Food, particularly wheat for bread, was largely controlled by the wealthy. When harvests were poor then prices were high, and distribution was held back in order to make large profits. Hunger was not uncommon for the poorer members of society, and for the poorest it was a feature of daily life. Remember too that most ordinary people lived in what might be called humble huts in rural areas, and in urban centres crowded and unsanitary tenements. What challenges had to be faced by that early Christian church of Luke when times were hard? Eternal life wasn’t just to be for when you die, but had to be in the now as well. ‘Give us this day our daily bread? Let’s make that real’, says Luke. “Give, and it will be given to you – share what you have.” Later, in the book of Acts, Luke describes how the wealthy sell their possessions to share amongst the community in their times of hardship.

We must read Luke’s gospel with the understanding that his readers and hearers – the members of his ‘church’- would comprise the whole spectrum of Roman society: from the wealthiest to the poorest. And probably containing more of the poorest, and lower status members of society than the wealthier and higher status members. Luke’s passion for the life of his brothers and sisters comes through in this and many other passages. He inspires his church with the words of Jesus to love God, love neighbour, and love enemy- and this meant across the great social divides of his day. Not many of our churches today are as economically diverse as Luke’s. But the challenge is still there for us, how to make love really real across the differences we do have in our church today. Stop and think: What verse challenges you today? What can you do to make a difference?

Hymn

HAP 134 STF 423 Forgive our sins as we forgive

A prayer of confession

Father, we confess that we nurture enmity and hold grudges against those we think of as enemies. They are usually in the wrong, and we are probably in the right. But we confess, Lord, that sometimes we are equally to blame, or at least not entirely innocent. No matter who started it, or how it began, perhaps a swift word of reconciliation, or a genuine attempt to understand, to sort things out, would have nipped matters in the bud. Sometimes we know that life is not so simple; help us to know what to do, how to respond. For sometimes we should turn the other cheek, sometimes we should keep things in check, sometimes we should simply turn and walk away for our own good. We confess that the complexities of life confuse us; please help us understand what you would have us do. Amen.

Assurance of forgiveness

Lord, no matter what we have done, you forgive us; and no matter what ‘they’ have done, and whoever ‘they’ are, you forgive them too. You forgive our enemies even when we don’t, and you forgive us even when we don’t deserve it. Thanks be to you, all-forgiving God. Amen.

Hymn

STF 249 HAP 145 Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve, the neighbours we have from you.

Prayers of Intercession

We bring before you, Father, a broken world full of broken people. Many have ailments. We suffer because of the cold, or the burning sun; we are chilled by rain and ice. Our flesh bruises and tears; our bones grow old and ache. We pray for all who suffer this day, especially those who are seriously ill. We pray for those who mourn loved ones who have left their earthly bodies behind. We bring before you the homeless who have no place to lay their heads, and the hungry who have no means to feed themselves. We pray for all who struggle to keep body and soul together. Comfort us with the reassurance of resurrection, that sown perishable, we shall rise imperishable, and suffer earthly deprivations and torments no more. Amen.

Lord’s Prayer

Hymn

HAP 753 STF 608 All praise to our redeeming Lord

Acclamation and Blessing:

Now to Him who is able through the power which is at work among us to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or conceive, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus, from generation to generation, forever more. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you now, and always. Amen.