Welcome
The 30th January marks the death of two leaders, Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated in New Delhi in 1948 and closer to home King Charles I, executed by parliament in 1649. Two very different leaders. As we gather in worship this week, we explore one of the many occasions as recorded in the gospels that Jesus has to escape execution/ assassination.
Call to Worship (Psalm 71:1-6)
In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
HYMN 192 All my hope on God is founded
Prayer:
Let us pray:
Lord God,
for You each day on earth in Christ
was an opportunity to meet people
in the rawness of their humanity
and to glimpse within them
something to love.
In the faithless You recognised need,
in the loveless You saw self-doubt,
in the outcast You witnessed a community
divided and conquered by fear of the different.
We thank and praise you for your grace
and for your example of mercy,
compassion and love.
Search our hearts we pray
and forgive us for each missed opportunity,
for when we have not seen
with your eyes,
we have not responded in your ways.
In our meeting with others today,
take us to the very edge of our understanding
that we may recognise in them our need for faith,
see in them our search for love
and witness through and to them
what it means to live in community.
Amen.
Scriptures:
Jeremiah 1:4-10Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born, I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’
But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.’
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth;
and the Lord said to me,
‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.
See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.’
Luke 4:21-30
Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”’ And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
HYMN 182 Now thank we all our God
Reflection:
How would you feel if you were stranded on a very small island in the middle of nowhere?How would you feel if stranded with you were people from all walks of life, a doctor (that would be helpful), a lawyer (not much relevance), a plumber and even an unemployed stay at home single mother? Does it matter who we are stranded with, race, gender, age or ability? I am sure many have heard of the name Bear Grylls. Well in brief he is a retired Special Air Services soldier who has made a career of making videos of different survival situations. His real name is Michael Edward. He is also a motivational speaker and has written many books. Recently, my family and I have watched a series called “Treasure Island” where twelve strangers are stranded on an island and they have to survive 40 days. Would you, do it? So here is the incentive, boxes of money totalling 100 000 pounds will be dropped by a helicopter at random times and in random places on this jungle of an island. If you find a box, it’s yours to keep as long as you don’t leave the island before the end of the challenge. Are you in now?
Jesus of Nazareth as explained in Luke’s gospel returns to his hometown. Some say if we read between the lines he has ministered elsewhere in power, maybe even healing the sick. Jesus seems to have the treasure, something everyone wants. Now as he returns to Nazareth, in the weekly corporate community gathering, he reads a specific text from Isaiah “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18-19) What do those words mean to you today? Are they treasure? As Jesus reads, it is as if he is declaring his mission and there is no denying it is good news, freedom, sight, the favour of God. He then preaches the shortest sermon ever! “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21) He reads a scripture which in their tradition pointed to the coming Messiah and then basically declares He is that Messiah. No wonder, all eyes were on him, all were praising him for his grace. His home crowd are literally celebrating because he is home and they now expect him to do what they heard he had done in other places and more. There is excitement and joy, like seen on the faces of those when someone arrived back to camp on the “Treasure Island” series announcing they had found a money box. The faces quickly change though when that person declared I am keeping it all for myself. Our moods and attitudes can change so quickly sometimes.The gospel reading today, Luke 4:21-30, starts out with Jesus being praised and celebrated and ends with the crowd trying to kill him. Is that possible? In a few short sentences a radical change in response and as we all know our attitudes impacts our actions. How does your response change when you are challenged or feel slightly criticized? I know for me walls go up and I become defensive. Others may go on the attack and therefore often in our hometown we are inclined to say what people want to hear. We are even happy to allow them to believe as much as makes them happy and keeps us in a praised position. We are doing this all the time and sometimes even unconsciously, keeping the peace and protecting our position.
Prophets have a hard time in their own hometown. Poor Jeremiah, if you read his story, many would say he was right not to want the job. Jeremiah like Jesus had to escape harsh attitudes, violence and even death. He remained true to his call. There is a tension between being true to what God has revealed to you and keeping in favour with the home crowd or even merely saving your skin. Jesus could have stopped at it’s Good News for you, freedom, sight and favour, but he did not. Jesus tells the crowd two stories, two well-known miracles which took place in Israel. They would have known them well because they took place in the next valley just over the hill from Nazareth. A foreign widow is provided for through the ministry of Elijah when many other widows in Israel at that time were struggling. She served the wrong god and had nothing; yet God touched her life. Naaman a foreigner is healed of leprosy through the ministry of Elisha when many with leprosy in Israel were not cleansed. Naaman was not only an outsider he was a commander in the Syrian army that would raid Israel. This is what gets the negative response. They wanted the treasure for themselves; the miracles but, Jesus points them to the fact that it is much bigger than that. Jesus came that all may be saved. That His kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. That eyes would be opened, that captives would be set free and that all would experience the Lord’s favour.Is there space in your spirituality for God to challenge your view of Jesus and his mission? Are you, bold enough to be part of his mission by reframing the stories for others so they too may be challenged? How sad there is no record of Jesus ever returning to Nazareth.Do you and I, the church exist to serve the hometown, the members, the insiders or is our call to challenge insiders and serve outsiders? Are you aware of what makes you anxious or angry and how you could respond differently to criticism and proposed change?
On “Treasure Island” some wanted to keep it all for themselves. They were challenged by the generous attitudes and actions of others. Others wanted to share and especially make sure that those not able to search could get part of the treasure. All however learned and agreed that it was all of them working together that made it possible for them to survive what many would not. “See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’ (Jeremiah 4:10)Amen
HYMN 489 Come down, O Love Divine
Prayers:
Let us pray:
Loving God, You have known us since before we were born,
You know what is in our minds and on our hearts.
If we have done anything wrong, we are sorry.
As a good father You forgive us when often we don’t deserve it.
Unlike the story in Luke’s gospel help us to recognise You when You are near us
even when we do not understand or want to hear your word to us.
Teach us to follow Your example of loving everyone, no matter who
they are, where they live or how much they have.
Give us the boldness to speak the word you have given to each of us.
We bring before You the thoughts on our heart today as we reflect on
your word to us in a moment of silence.
Pause…Having listened to us individually we now unite in the words Your Son taught us.
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.
Loving God, thank You for the readings and the teaching of the scripture today.
Encourage us to believe in You and in ourselves
so that we may carry out the work You would have us do.
Help us not to shrink back from your call to include all.
Help us not to shrink back from your call to share your grace
No matter the cost or the controversy.
Remind us of the boldness of the prophets of old
and embolden us, your children to be like you
We pray for the people of the world, may they know Your grace in their lives,
through our work and witness.
We pray for those who are ill, dying or supporting someone through these times.
May they find comfort knowing that Your loving arms are waiting for them
and for those left behind, give them the knowledge that You are there for them too.
We pray for our church in a time of change; in a changing world.
There will be people who are hurt, but help us all, to focus on Your uniting love.
All these prayers we offer in the name of Your Son, our saviour Jesus Christ.
Help us to be attuned to our attitudes so that we may temper our words and actions
with the attributes of your Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience and perseverance.
We ask all this to your glory and honour alone.
Amen.
HYMN Give me oil in my lamp
Benediction:
To all God’s children, peace,
within all God’s children, love,
for all God’s children, grace.
in all God’s children, joy.
Amen.
Sung Amen:
Acknowledgements:
Bible Quotations taken from: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Bible Quotations taken from: Life Application Study Bible, New International Version, copyright © 1988,1989, 1990, 1991, 2005 Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. Wheaton. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English translations of The Lord’s Prayer, © 1998, English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), and used by permission. www.englishtexts.org
Prayers based upon materials from ‘The Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’ for ‘The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’ 2022.
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