Virtual Worship - 20 March 2022

As well as being printed for Circuit distribution, this service will be held on this date at St Andrew’s Church, 10.30am.

H&P 7 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!

Introduction

All round the world and even here in Britain many live under threats of many kinds, pressures which make us feel afraid or insecure: loss of friends; housing, jobs or money; health or danger to life – and that’s just a few.

So what should we do when such things affect us? The Bible suggests we should begin by drawing close to God in worship. Worship isn’t an escape, some cosy place away from the world. It’s a recognition that God is in charge; praising him for his sovereignty; and turning our lives over to him so that he may direct our ways. Then we can face our difficulties.

Reading: 

Psalm 63

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
9 But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Comment: 

In the first eight verses the Psalmist praises God, and only in the last three verses do we learn he’s in trouble. So whatever he’s feeling like, he doesn’t start with his troubles, he starts with praise:

• He seeks God’s presence, because he knows that that’s what makes for real, true life (1-3).
• He blesses God for his never-failing provision for his needs: rich food, for body mind and spirit (4-5).
• Then, in preparation for facing his difficulties, he recalls God’s past help and protection, and resolves that, whatever lies ahead, he will cling to God, who has sustained him in the past and can be trusted in the future (6-8).
• Then, and only then, he turns to his troubles. He prays for justice, as he understands it (9-10). Those in war-torn countries might well pray similarly.

• Finally, he looks forward trustingly to a time when liars will be silenced and peace re-established (11).

It’s a very sensible approach for us too. Let’s pray.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, can mere words praise you as well as you so richly deserve? But we can begin with thanks, for calling us to be your children, through Jesus, and inviting us right into your loving presence. For we need you, Lord. In our inner beings we thirst for you. Please meet us wherever we are: refresh us; fill our souls with deep peace and our lips with right praise.

For you have done so much for us in the past: blessed us so lavishly, according to our needs and much more. We can remember the overwhelming relief when you helped us. We sensed your protection, as if under your wings. And we sang for joy when things went well. So now we’re going to stick with you, Lord, for you have been faithful to us and we know you will uphold us, today, and tomorrow...

For we need upholding, Lord. You know our troubles and worries, we name them before you anyway, trusting you to deal with them, each in the right way.

[Pray about your troubles, or people’s you know (or know of), or places and problems that you particularly care about; or of the Church; or the world.]

Please, Lord, either take these problems away, or give us the strength to endure, trusting you always. And perhaps also, somehow, use these experiences to further your kingdom: in my life; in all our lives; and in the whole of your beloved creation – your rule of truth and justice and love and everlasting peace.

Hymn:

H&P 278 Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim

Reading: 

Isaiah 55:1-13

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters;
and he who has no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not
bread,
and your labour for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
3 Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and commander for the peoples.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One
of Israel, for he has glorified you.
6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have
compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from
heaven and do not return there but water the
earth, making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Comment: 

This takes up where the Psalmist’s example of drawing close to God left off: with God calling his people to turn to him, and promising to bless them, to nourish and sustain them – and at no cost or charge (1-2). We can equally well apply these words to ourselves.

• We are told how to obtain that blessing: by coming close to God and listening to his word in the Bible, and responding to it, to his great promises for a glorious future beyond imagining (3-5).
• But Isaiah adds an urgency which the Psalm didn’t have: Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near (6) – for God may close doors of opportunity if we fail to take them. Or we ourselves may drift away.
• Moreover, we are to seek seriously: give up the ungodly ways that his word tells us about; repent of the wrongs that it shows us; and ask God for forgiveness, which he promises abundantly, for he is compassionate (7).
• God’s thoughts and ways are not like ours, but far higher, on any moral scale – as high as the heavens above the earth (8-9).
• Finally, God’s words always achieve his purpose, which is ultimate freedom from all ill, all conflict, in each and all, reaching out to all creation which will be renewed and last for all time – and his words are intended to draw us into that purpose (10-13).

The prospect is glorious; the promise is welcoming; but the call is urgent; hear and heed; don’t miss out.

Some years ago I caught the London train from Shipley station. It was in the days when train doors had handles. I opened a door and slammed it after me. Then seconds later two women came running onto the platform and tugged at the same handle, but now it was locked and wouldn’t open. They were too late. The train slid out of the station, leaving them behind. It seemed to me then a very graphic illustration of a door of opportunity closing.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near (Is 55:6).

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we long for lasting peace and joy. Our enduring prayer is just what you promise. So please, Lord, give us the sense to believe your words and follow your way towards your wonderful goal.

Help us to see what’s wrong how we think and act, and how far short our ways fall from yours – and then help us give up what’s wrong and follow what’s right in your eyes, assured of your pardon for our failures when we ask.

Thank you, Lord, for making this offer, help us to accept it while we still can. Amen.

Hymn:

H&P 48 Thy ceaseless, unexhausted love

Our third reading is also about the need to draw close to God, and again to become the sort of people we should be.

Reading: 

Luke 13:1-9

1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Comment: 

The setting of the story is a recent atrocity: Pontius Pilate’s troops had slaughtered some people while they were offering sacrifices (like killing people in church). And a tower had collapsed, killing some people. Our news is full of atrocities and disasters, so this could just as well have been in our day.

We’re quick to ask when something goes wrong for us, “What have I done to deserve this?” but Jesus says that neither atrocities nor accidents prove that the victims were worse sinners than anyone else.

Not worse sinners, but still sinners, disobeying God – and Jesus goes on to say that unless we repent (ie, turn away from our wrong and back to God’s ways, asking for forgiveness, as Isaiah was urging), unless we repent, we will all likewise perish! And he says this twice, because it really matters.

We rightly talk of Jesus’ love, but love doesn’t mean softness. Here his love shows in a clear warning – of what will happen to us if we reject him, or even of we delay too long in accepting him, because the door of opportunity won’t stay open forever. And just to make sure we get the point, he gives us a parable.

A fig tree in a vineyard, leafy but fruitless for three years in succession. It’s a waste of space, says the owner. Get rid of it! But the gardener pleads for one more year: he’ll dig round the roots; he’ll add fertiliser; he’ll give it every chance. But then if that doesn’t work, then alright, cut it down.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near (Is 55:6).

God is the owner. Jesus is that gardener offering a year of favour, of mercy – hope to a largely faithless generation in his days: they could turn back to God through him and become once more the fruitful nation of blessing that God had always intended. But he was their last hope.

Of course the parable isn’t restricted to his day. It rolls down the centuries and demands that we ask of ourselves (and help each other in finding answers): are we close enough to God, and fruitful in the way he wants of his people?

We can often see that our lives are not fruitful enough, eg: that we lack some of what the Spirit should be bearing in us – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23); or some temptations we can’t conquer; bad habits we can’t break; or an over-hasty tongue making us say things we later regret. When we do feel such things, we can ask Jesus to come and ‘dig round our roots’ and add ‘fertiliser’.

Digging round our roots: It’s a wonderful picture of Jesus getting to the root of things in our lives, making sure that everything in us is working as it should. We don’t need to know exactly which of our roots need attention, nor how to put them right, we can leave that to him for he knows us better than we know ourselves. In this parable, he’s the patient gardener: just ask him in.

Adding fertiliser: Just as he knows which roots to deal with, he knows what fertiliser we need. To one it may be correction; to another encouragement; but perhaps to all a top dressing of relevant teaching – the application of God’s word, so that we can ‘feed’ on it. That means reading the Bible, especially the bits about Jesus, and pondering it with the help of the Holy Spirit and comparing notes with others of like mind, gaining fresh insights and new direction; and putting his teaching into practice in our lives.

Thus we draw close to God, and can be made fruitful: transformed into loving and caring people, helpful and supportive to others, while also being nourished and sustained. And more: through Jesus we are also guaranteed for eternity a future with God – the creator God of power and glory; our loving heavenly Father.

If we don’t respond to Jesus’ offer to dig round our roots and apply the fertiliser of his word to make us fruitful, then, well, he warns that fruitless trees will be felled.

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near (Is 55:6).

Prayer

Lord, we do not wish to be barren in your sight, but richly fruitful. So we ask, for both ourselves and each other, that we may draw close to you and find you drawing closer to us. May we be open to the inner workings of our patient gardener Jesus, and become ever more fruitful in your eyes, in whatever way he may determine, for your glory and the love of others. Amen.

Dedication of our offerings

Heavenly Father, we bring to you with our love
all that we offer, in money or in anything else,
and ask that you will make of it all
greater things than we can possibly imagine,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen

Lord’s Prayer

H&P 668 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine

Blessing

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all (2 Cor 13:14).


Service prepared by Roy Lorrain-Smith (The drawings are by him too)
Bible readings are from the English Standard Version (Anglicised). CCLI 432031