26 September 2021
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This morning at our 10 am Parish Eucharist we also had a baptism. The friends and family of Jacob gathered to join our church family at a combined service. Father Roger performed the baptism and celebrated the Eucharist.
The Choir sang the anthem Ave Verum in the setting by W.A. Mozart as the anthem, and Joanna played a variation on a Lutheran baptismal hymn during the communion. We were joined by the Sunday School at communion and for the latter part of the service and the giving of a lighted candle to Jacob's Father
'Shine as a light in the World'
It is always a great joy to have children in church, we have 'happy bags' of toys and books to entertain them and we love to hear them joining in whenever they feel the need, the sound of children in church is always good!!
Harvest next week! Decorating the Church on Saturday morning, our thanksgiving service on Sunday morning and the Harvest Tea on Sunday afternoon (tickets from the church wardens!)
A more solemn event is the Memorial Service for our friend David Barron at 12:30 on Saturday early afternoon.
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| The Baptism of Jacob |
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| The Sunday School have been making vegetables out of lentils for harvest! |
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| The Sunday School joining the service |
James 5.13-20
A reading from the letter of James.
Are any among you suffering?
They should pray.
Are any cheerful?
They should sing songs of praise.
Are any among you sick?
They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them,
anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
The prayer of faith will save the sick,
and the Lord will raise them up;
and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
Therefore confess your sins to one another,
and pray for one another,
so that you may be healed.
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
Elijah was a human being like us,
and he prayed fervently that it might not rain,
and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
Then he prayed again,
and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.
My brothers and sisters,
if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,
you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering
will save the sinner’s soul from death
and will cover a multitude of sins.
Mark 9:38-50
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
After Jesus had finished teaching the disciples,
John said to him,
“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,
and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
But Jesus said, “Do not stop him;
for no one who does a deed of power in my name
will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
Whoever is not against us is for us.
For truly I tell you,
whoever gives you a cup of water to drink
because you bear the name of Christ
will by no means lose the reward.
“If any of you put a stumbling block
before one of these little ones who believe in me,
it would be better for you
if a great millstone were hung around your neck
and you were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off;
it is better for you to enter life maimed
than to have two hands and to go to hell,
to the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off;
it is better for you to enter life lame
than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.
And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out;
it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye
than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,
where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
"For everyone will be salted with fire.
Salt is good;
but if salt has lost its saltiness,
how can you season it?
Have salt in yourselves,
and be at peace with one another.”
Address
Looking at the last part of that reading. Those who treat children badly are pictured by Jesus as deserving a sea-side experience with a mill stone. And not just the little mill stone which women used at home, but a great mill stone, the large industrial one! So, we see firstly, then, that Jesus values children.
That might seem obvious, but children often weren't greatly valued in the ancient world. Valued mainly, sometimes, just for their potential. They might grow up in a few years’ time to earn money for the family, and eventually support their poor old parents in their declining years.
For us, and for Jesus, mercifully, children matter far more than that, right from their earliest days. And I react when people say, 'children are the Church of tomorrow.' Through baptism children are part of the Church of today, as much as any of us.
Whilst we rightly have our Sunday School for the children, they must always, also, be welcome at services. And, in the weightier services, I think that at least some small provision for them ought to be built in, and some ways included for them to contribute!
The second half of the reading sounded quite gruesome. There is a grim tale of a hapless young cleric over fifty years ago, who chose this passage when giving a reflection to a small group of older clergy. He suddenly realised that two of the small group had actually lost limbs, and one of them was an archdeacon! I wonder what happened to him?
If we are wondering what someone is up to, we might look at their face, their expression, their eyes, to try to work out what’s going on in their head. We talk of affairs of the heart, and although our hearts might race a bit, it’s likely to be all mainly in our heads.
In Biblical times, however, it seems, they didn’t always think in terms of heads. If you were wondering where someone was thinking of going, you would look at their foot and wonder, ‘what is it planning?’ Or look at their hand and ask, ‘what is that hand planning to do?’
The reading is not about chopping us up, but about managing our activities, keeping them healthy, and in balance. Just as we might aim for a healthy balance when we prune a fruit tree. Any branch of a tree might well need a bit of disciplining to avoid chaotic, unhealthy growth, and to make it fruitful.
If we have a job to work at, a family to care for, friends and relatives to keep in touch with, a home to maintain, finances to plan, things to study, cars to look after, leisure activities, various communities and social concerns to engage with. These may all seem like branches of our lives, and are, surely, best kept in balance, with none of them let to run completely out of control in our enthusiasm and attention, to the detriment of the other important parts of life.
God, surely, normally calls us to disciplined, balanced, and, thereby, fruitful lives. We must thank God for all those good branches of our lives, but keep them in a balance with his help. Not ignore him and let some part of life become central - become an idol - damaging other important activities.
We welcome Jacob to the Church of God, the whole Church of history, today, in the hope that he will find joy and purpose, strength and hope in it, and we must pledge ourselves to do what we can for him under God.
Fr Roger
19 September 2021
This morning our 10 am service was Matins, but unfortunately Joanna, our organist was unwell. We were fortunate to have our friend James Roriston step in at the last minute to play for us, so we had Hymns, and sang the responses, but we said the Canticles and the Psalm. Father Roger took the service today and preached about the first reading from Isaiah chapter 45.
There was coffee after the service, it is such a pleasure to go across into the rooms and meet the Sunday School children at the end of their session!
Tickets for the Harvest Tea are available from the Church Wardens, in addition to tea there will be a Quiz and some 'Last Night of the Proms' singing to join in with!
Junior Choir will recommence on the 8th of October at 17:15, the session is 35 minutes, all existing members we are looking forwards to seeing you. If your child would like to sing with us please contact Joanna, they need to be 8 or older and of course interested in singing!
8am Holy Communion
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
A reading from the letter of James
Who is wise and understanding among you?
Show by your good life
that your works are done with gentleness
born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts,
do not be boastful and false to the truth.
Such wisdom does not come down from above,
but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
For where there is envy and selfish ambition,
there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace
for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you,
where do they come from?
Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
You want something and do not have it;
so you commit murder.
And you covet something and cannot obtain it;
so you engage in disputes and conflicts.
You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God,
and he will draw near to you.
10am Mattins
Isaiah 45:9-22
A reading from the book of Isaiah.
9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
10 Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Revelation 14:1-5
A reading from the book of Revelation.
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
Address
Two rather tricky Bible readings today. I think our hymns are largely centring on the second reading, but we might look at the first passage from Isaiah 45.
When it says ‘he’ at one point, it means Cyrus the Great. He was not a Jewish figure, but an ancient and very successful ruler, and military leader, in Persia. This was in the 500s BC. He was also tolerant and magnanimous to those he conquered. At the beginning of our chapter, God is pictured as speaking about ‘Cyrus my anointed’, which seemed an odd way for the Almighty to speak of a heathen leader. Cyrus is called ‘God’s anointed’ here, in the 45th chapter of Isaiah. Some in America have noted that Donald Trump was 45th President of the USA, and try to argue that he was divinely chosen and divinely used! And if you believe that……
The drift of this Jewish Scripture seems to be that God is behind everything. He is God, and it is not for us to be too confrontational or questioning with him. He can even get a great foreign heathen ruler like Cyrus to do useful things.
What Cyrus did, of course, was to conquer the other great heathen kingdom of Babylon, where the Jews had been in exile for decades. And Cyrus, being magnanimous and tolerant, now let the Jews go back to the Holy Land. So the Jews liked Cyrus, and thought that God had used him, - without him even knowing it. Such was God’s skill and power.
There is a book of the 500 greatest garden designers in history, and it’s a bit surprising to see Cyrus in it! He had a garden, its ruins are now still there, in a desert, in what is now Iran. This seems to have been the first special garden using much stonework, which has to a degree, survived, and the first garden to have sophisticated water systems and water features.
So, we are being told here, that God is behind everything, we should respect him, and that he moves in mysterious ways. We must remember whom we are dealing with.
In the New Testament, in 1 Corinthians 11, when St Paul is talking of the Eucharist, he says that we need to ‘discern the Body’, and there are sad consequences of not doing so. ‘Discern the Body’, - a rather mysterious expression, also translated, ‘recognise the body of the Lord.’ The Body of Christ can mean many things. His body which lived among us, which was crucified and buried. His risen body. The bread of the Eucharist. The body of Christ’s people.
All of which need respect. But it is the Body of Christ, - the body of his people - which we are perhaps most likely not to discern well, or treat well, and might need to remember whom we are dealing with. The Church is not like other organisations. There should be a sense of holiness.
In matters of integrity, safeguarding of the vulnerable, etc., we should be showing better standards, or at least as good as, society in general. It is appalling that it so often fails to be so.
We are, of necessity, living in a part of the divided Church, as Anglicans, but have a loyalty to the wider Church of history, and, surely, must, as an Anglican Church, be free to embrace anything which we come to believe is sound, and useful, and inspired by God, from any part of the Church.
The Church is not like other organisations. There should be a sense of holiness : it is God’s household not ours. When it comes to fundraising, methods must reflect that we are a Christian church. We can’t assume that secular approaches will always be suitable. When it comes to decision making, we can’t assume that just copying Parliamentary procedures, with parties and daily confrontation, is for us, or that democracy itself, is always perfect for the Household of God.
In a healthy local Church there will always be ample candidates to stand at Annual Meetings. And the candidates will say what they stand for. Members on the electoral Roll will turn up in numbers and engage with the Annual Meeting and vote prayerfully. Those on Synods will be chosen to reflect the views of the parish, or diocese, they are from. It shouldn’t be about individuals striving for membership simply to push their own minority view. And no one ought to have to be appointed because no one else was willing.
We always have a balancing act if we treat the Church as God’s Household. We may feel moved to serve in a particular way, and should offer to do so, but that is never likely to be our decision, and it is probably inappropriate to push ourselves forward very forcibly. Things have to be agreed with the bishop, the parish priest, the PCC or whoever is relevant. And all of those folk did not appoint themselves.
We must ‘discern’ the Church as the Body of Christ - as something unique and holy. It is never a place for us to seek power or focus on our career. If we have the right approach, we can rely on God to get a result better than we might have planned or hoped for.
Fr Roger
12 September 2021
This morning the 10 am service was a Eucharist celebrated by Father Roger. It was lovely to see the church with lots of people, and the Sunday School back in session and joining the congregation for communion. We have returned to the Gospel of Mark for our readings having had a short diversion into John's Gospel over the summer. The reading was about the moment when the disciples realise who Jesus is but he warns them that following him will not be easy. In the sermon Father Roger told us of Dietrikt Bonhoffer who was a Lutheran priest in 1930s Germany and spoke out against the Nazi regime, he was killed in a concentration camp 2 months before the end of the war. He is one of the 20th century Martyrs honoured in the Church of England. We may not be called to give up our lives in this way, but following Jesus in our ordinary lives is a challenge of giving up the self in order to help others.
The Choir is back in full force and the anthem was 'What Wonderous Love is This' by Geoffrey Weaver from a traditional American folk song.
We were again able to have coffee after the service, although we are still taking precautions, masks and distancing, we begin to feel we are getting nearer to 'normal'
Our Harvest Thanksgiving Service will be on October 3rd. There will be decorating of the Church on Saturday morning the 2nd of October. There is also a church yard working party that day, and there is to be a memorial service for David Barron at 12:30 so it will be very busy!
On the afternoon of the 3rd of October there will be a Harvest Tea in the church hall, tickets, £3 each are available form Janet Harland. There will be some entertainments after tea!
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| Sunday School new term |
James 3:1-12
A reading from the letter of James.
Not many of you should become teachers,
my brothers and sisters,
for you know that we who teach
will be judged with greater strictness.
For all of us make many mistakes.
Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect,
able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.
If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us,
we guide their whole bodies.
Or look at ships:
though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them,
yet they are guided by a very small rudder
wherever the will of the pilot directs.
So also the tongue is a small member,
yet it boasts of great exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
And the tongue is a fire.
The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity;
it stains the whole body,
sets on fire the cycle of nature,
and is itself set on fire by hell.
For every species of beast and bird,
of reptile and sea creature,
can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
but no one can tame the tongue—
a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With it we bless the Lord and Father,
and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
My brothers and sisters,
this ought not to be so.
Does a spring pour forth from the same opening
both fresh and brackish water?
Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters,
yield olives, or a grapevine figs?
No more can salt water yield fresh.
Mark 8:27-38
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi;
and on the way he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that I am?”
And they answered him,
“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah;
and still others, one of the prophets.”
He asked them,
“But who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them
that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering,
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed, and after three days rise again.
He said all this quite openly.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But turning and looking at his disciples,
he rebuked Peter and said,
“Get behind me, Satan!
For you are setting your mind not on divine things
but on human things.”
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them,
“If any want to become my followers,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for my sake,
and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world
and forfeit their life?
Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
Those who are ashamed of me
and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation,
of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed
when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Sermon
This is the year for us reading from St Mark’s Gospel, but…. for many weeks we’ve been diverted. But today we are back. In fact, we are back with a vengeance. Today’s reading is an extremely prominent one, a pivotal point in Mark’s Gospel. Mark’s Gospel seems to be the very first written, and today’s reading is the big turning point in the middle of it.
So… looking at St Mark. For many chapters, Jesus has been teaching and healing and acquiring disciples and getting people thinking. All very impressive and interesting, - and mystifying too, - who exactly who is he? What’s going on? It’s far from obvious.
On the fateful day at Caesarea Philippi Jesus asks his disciples, ‘What are people saying about me? And what do you disciples think? ‘ Peter, usually hasty, says to Jesus, ‘You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One’, which is a huge statement.
Jesus then says some startling things. ‘You must keep quiet. Messiah? Don’t use the M word.’ If they call Jesus ‘Messiah’, that might be right, but there will be serious misunderstanding. For the Jews, the Messiah was expected to be powerful, undefeatable, successful, carrying all before him. The Jews even now have a list of criteria the Messiah will meet, and Jesus does not remotely match up. How could the Messiah be rejected, and suffer – that is, surely, failure?
‘Absolutely outlandish!’ Peter says, ‘You’ve got that wrong, Jesus! ‘ And Jesus turns on him sharply, saying that Peter’s vision is shallow, flawed and un-Godly on this painful, but vital, question.
‘If anyone wants to follow me,’ says Jesus, ‘they must deny themselves, leave self behind, not put the usual issues and ambitions of self-interest central in their life, but discipleship. Christ and his disciples will only find the fullest life along a challenging path.
If anyone wants to follow Jesus. It is something we have choose to do. You can’t just drift into Christianity. And the decision is not a once-for-all thing, we need to decide continually to persevere.
Jesus’ friends had been confused and uncertain before that special day. Just before it, Mark writes that Jesus had opened the eyes of a blind man, then, in our story, he opened the eyes of the disciples, to the challenging realities. The story which comes after all this is the Transfiguration, where they see Jesus with the top brass, Moses and Elijah, and Jesus somehow being the main one. So that is an experience of reassurance and encouragement for the disciples. But when they come down from the mountain of the Transfiguration they are straight back into a challenging situation.
Today’s reading will possibly bring to mind Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young German Lutheran minister and theologian in the 1930s, and a friend of Bishop Bell of Chichester. He wrote the book, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’, which was really a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel. Bonhoeffer wrote, ‘When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die’. Not always die literally, of course, but in the sense of denying oneself to prioritize the demands of discipleship. But in Bonhoeffer’s case it did include dying literally.
Bonhoeffer had been unhappy that his Lutheran Church had got too close to the Nazis, so he joined a break-away church. When war was declared, he was teaching in America, but chose to go back to Germany to do what he could. He was murdered by the Nazis in 1945, whilst still in his 30s. He was killed very shortly before his concentration camp was liberated. He’s remembered in the Church of England Calendar on 9th April each year, the day of his death. There are ten statues of 20th Century martyrs above the West Door of Westminster Abbey, including that of Bonhoeffer.
It is well to remember the story of when Jesus was on the way to the Cross. Some women supporters were calling out, sentimentally, to the effect, ‘Your mother was a lucky woman!’ and Jesus turned on them sharply, as he did on Peter, to the effect that he wanted followers, not admirers.
It is easy for us to say, ‘Jesus had a painfully challenging vocation. The apostles often did too. Unusual people like Bonhoeffer, caught up in the big tragedies of history, might, too, have vocations to costly discipleship. But ordinary people in ordinary times don’t need to take things very seriously, and they‘re not ever going to be called to real sacrifice, are they?’ The Gospels say no such thing!
Fr Roger
05 September 2021
This morning, the first Sunday in September, was our Family Service. It was lovely to see so many families and children back with us after the holidays. We were fortunate to have the Arch Deacon with us as the celebrant, and it was also a special day because we celebrate our Patronal Festival. St Mary our Lady has quite a few feast days, but we have chosen the celebration of her birth as our special Festival.
We had a lovely reading of a poem about St Mary and the Archdeacon preached, picking up the Gospel from Luke where Mary sings the poem we call the Magnificat. We learned that Magna means big and animus means our soul or essence. So by being magnanimous we expand our souls in the glory of God, and as we go out this week, back to school and work we should be magnanimous in all we do!
The Choir is back in session so as well as singing some well known hymns about St Mary, the ladies sang a setting of the Ave Verum by Faure as the anthem.
We had Coffee after the service!!! For the first time in over 18 months we were able to meet and chat after the service with suitable precautions. We left Church on a beautiful late summer morning refreshed and renewed for the week ahead.
Galatians 4:4-7
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Galatians.
When the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,
in order to redeem those who were under the law,
so that we might receive adoption as children.
And because you are children,
God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts,
crying, “Abba! Father!”
So you are no longer a slave but a child,
and if a child then also an heir, through God.
Luke 1:46-55
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
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