Welcome to the joint service of Craigmillar Park and Reid Memorial Churches for the third Sunday of Lent. This week our focus is on the Law of God, and the foundation they create for life.
Call to Worship (Psalm 19: 7-8):
The law of the LORD is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
HYMN 5 O lord our lord throughout the earth (Psalm 8)
(from Victoria Methodist Church, Bristol – Tune: Tramps & Hawkers)
Prayer
With all of creation we come together to praise you.
For your love, and touch upon our lives, we give you thanks.
For the gift of Jesus, your Son, we rejoice.
With our words, our songs, and our hearts, we praise you.
We praise you for you have created us and given us life.
Lead us as you have led your people throughout time,
that we may rejoice in your creation,
and nurture it as you intended.
We give thanks for the love you have shown to us.
When we wandered from your presence,
or chose paths that lead to destruction,
you called us back to you, our home.
We rejoice when we think of Christ Jesus.
When we were lost he came to us;
through his self-sacrifice he bridged the gap,
and brought us healing and wholeness.
This day, as we seek to lift your name on high,
accept our songs, hear our words, and know our thanks.
Lift and inspire us, that we may honour you
and bless the world in your name.
With the words that Jesus taught us, let us now pray together:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Scriptures:
Exodus 20: 1-17
And God spoke all these words:
‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
‘You shall have no other gods before me.
‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
‘Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
‘Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
‘You shall not murder.
‘You shall not commit adultery.
‘You shall not steal.
‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.’
John 2: 13-22
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’
The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’
Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’
They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
HYMN 485 Dear Lord and Father of mankind
(from the ‘Big Sing’, Newcastle, 2008)
Reflection
What makes us a community? Is it the place where we live? Is it the colour of our skin? Is it the language that we speak? The clothes we wear? Perhaps it is something less tangible. Perhaps what makes us a community is a sense of shared values, the ‘rules’ that we play by. Our first reading this week takes us to the giving of the ‘Law’ at Sinai. Often society sees the commandments only as a series of ‘thou shalt not’ statements, restricting life and reducing happiness. Yet these ‘laws’ are not about restriction or control. Actually, ‘Law’ is not a particularly good translation; ‘instruction’ would be much better. These instructions from God to his people are about the shared values and principles that would enable them to function as a positive and constructive community. They would help shape not only collective action but give a sense of identity in the process.
The commandments were given as a central part of the covenant between God and humanity. They would be the distinctives that would mark this people out as different from the neighbouring nations. They begin with what would outline the distinctives of their relationship with God. It was to be a relationship that was based on allegiance, love, and exclusivity. Next, they outline the practices of community that would flow from God’s love and would build strength and stability amongst the people. As a part of this they give basic human rights. Murder, infidelity, and theft are prohibited. The commandments, therefore, give the right to life, marriage, and property.
Any church or society that adheres to these values is one that reflects the distinctive features of the kingdom of God. These values, though, are an integral whole and are not to be divided. We cannot turn and decide that any one of them is okay to ignore without also undermining the others. This is as true of the commands not to murder or steal as it is of the commands to have no other ‘gods’ besides God. In other words, to fully live by these divine community values requires faith. It is the outflowing love of God for his creation that makes it possible for us to do this.
Turning to the gospel passage we see something of the above ideals has gone wrong. The house of prayer has become almost a centre of commerce as love for God has become a series of transactions rather than a relationship. Jesus, in turning away the money changers and traders, is proclaiming that this is not the way. Yet, he is also proclaiming something far deeper as he does. It would be interesting to know what bystanders thought when he overturned the tables and drove out the traders. It would be interesting, too, to know what those traders thought and how they responded. More important, though, is to reflect on what Jesus may have been thinking.
As Jesus cleared out the traders from the Temple he was clearing away that which was required for the sacrificial practices. By removing these, and standing in their place, he is also proclaiming himself to be the ‘true’ sacrifice. Indeed, Christianity has seen Jesus as the single sacrifice that made redundant the system of repeated ones. In driving out that which signified the imperfect system he is placing himself in the role of the ‘perfect’ one. As he does this he draws our focus back to the central point of the covenant of God with the people. That is, he draws us back to the life-giving relationship with God and the love that flows from it. This is what we are called to return to each Lent. This is what we are called to recall painfully each Good Friday. It is in so doing that we are enable to experience the joy that is resurrection and Easter.
Amen.
Prayer:
God, your set your commandments before us
to show us values that lead to life.
Inspire your people to live by them
and work toward building the community of your kingdom.
We pray for those enticed by false gods,
by money, fame or power.
May they be set free from the idols that bind them
and know life in all its freedoms.
We prayer ensnared by a web of lies,
for those who weave webs of deceit,
and for those trapped by them.
May they be set free to know truth and the healing it brings.
We pray for those touched by the hand of death.
We remember victims of evil, and the regimes that cause the hurt.
We remember those who grieve, and pray for your strengthening touch upon them.
May this world seek peace and the healing it brings.
We pray for a world touched by greed,
leaving millions to hunger, suffer illness, or feel despair.
May the world turn from the greed that leads to theft,
and share its resources among all peoples.
We pray for ourselves that we would follow you.
May we open our heart, and embrace your world with love.
May we not stand aside, but act with justice
that the world may rejoice in you.
Amen.
HYMN 527 Lord, make us servants of your peace
(from St. Cuthbert’s, Wells & Wookey Hole)
Benediction:
Let us go from our worship together,
sharing words that lead to life,
living lives that grow,
that build your kingdom on earth,
and lift high your holy name.
Amen.
Acknowledgements:
English translations of Lord’s Prayer © 1988 English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC). www.englishtexts.org. Used by permission.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.