Parish of

St Fagans and Michaelston-super-Ely

Service for

2nd Sunday after Trinity

FB broadcast

21st June, 2020

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“Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. So do not be afraid;….."

Matthew 10.39; 10.31

If you have an object of devotion - eg an icon, a cross or an open Bible - place it in front of you, as this service begins. And perhaps also light a candle beside it.

Welcome

We meet in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Lord, open our lips and we shall praise your name

Introduction Welcome to our service today. Welcome to those watching live on Facebook, to those who will see this on video later, on Facebook or via the website. Welcome also to those who are following the text of this Order of Service, and worshipping quietly within their own homes.

This week, in readings and prayers, we continue to reflect on what it means to follow Jesus, and become his disciple – not just by what we say we believe in, but by how we live our lives and allow them to be changed because of our faith. Our first hymn speaks of placing our trust in God to guide and protect us at every moment of the day. The words come from the ancient Celtic text, St Patrick’s Breastplate.

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Opening song: This day God gives me

This day God gives me strength of high heaven, sun and moon shining, flame in my hearth, flashing of lightning, wind in its swiftness, deeps in the ocean, firmness of earth.

This day God sends me strength to sustain me, might to uphold me, wisdom as guide. Your eyes are watchful; your ears are listening; your lips are speaking; friend at my side.

God’s way is my way; God’s shield is round me; God’s host defends me, saving from ill. Angels of heaven, drive from me always all that would harm me, stand by me still.

Rising, I thank you, mighty and strong One, King of creation, Giver of rest, firmly confessing Threeness of Persons, Oneness of Godhead, Trinity blest

Confession:

The Spirit of the Lord fills the world and knows our every thought and deed. Let us then open ourselves to the Lord, and confess our sins in penitence and faith.

We are often slow to follow the example of Christ Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. We often fail to be known as Christ’s disciples. Christ, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. We often fail to walk the way of the cross. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

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May the God of love bring you back to himself, forgive you your sins, and assure you of his eternal love, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Collect for Today:

Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are nothing worth: send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you. Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

Psalm 92 vv 1-9, 12-15 – a modern paraphrase

How precious a thing it is to give thanks to you, O God. How good and beautiful to sing your name, most beloved, to receive your love in our hearts at the rising of the sun in the

morning, to sing of your faithfulness in the watches of the night, on the strings of the harp and lyre.

In everything you have done you make me glad, I sing for joy at the beauty of creation. The depths of your thoughts I cannot comprehend, the wonder of the universe I shall never fathom.

Everything that happens impinges on your heart, in wisdom and love you hold us and heal us. The wounds of the broken-hearted you bind, you patiently stitch the severed limbs of your body.

The brutal do not understand your ways, the cruel add to the pain that you suffer. Because of the freedom you give us, wickedness can sprout like the grass in spring.

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But in the drought of summer those who do evil in their need have no one to turn to. Cut off from the flow of companionship they wither, decay and die.

Yet the oppressed draw near in compassion, with water to slake their enemies’ thirst. Their deeds are perfume so fragrant, a precious oil with which you anoint them. With their quiet and dignified presence they will shame their enemies to silence. Vibrant with life, they will invite them to dance, their eyes glistening with laughter and joy.

Those who keep faith will flourish like the palm tree, like the spreading cedar of Lebanon. Planted firm in the earth of your courtyard, O God, they will mature and give fruit to your house. To old age they will be vigorous and fresh, sturdy and laden with branches. Like the trees and the mountains strong, they will confirm your patient endurance.

taken from Jim Cotter ‘By Stony Paths’

Gospel Reading: Matthew 10. 24-39

Jesus said ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value

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than many sparrows. ‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

This is the Gospel of the Lord Praise be to you, O Christ.

Reflection

“Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” “‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” You might well be surprised by these words. But this was Jesus, talking to his followers about what it would mean to be his disciple! Strange way, you might think, to go about winning friends and influencing people. How many of us are going to leave home and follow someone who demands our life, our everything, for which our only reward will be that we’ll get the credit, when we eventually get to heaven. Meanwhile in this life, he promises that he’s not come to bring peace, but a sword. So much for gentle Jesus, meek and mild. What are we to make of this? Where has the Jesus gone, who is kind and approachable, who heals the sick, welcomes children and spreads peace and love wherever he goes?

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Well, I think this is the Jesus who is tough on wrongdoing, who calls out the hypocrites and challenges the powerful, especially when he can see selfishness and injustice rife around him. The Jesus who can point out to Simon the wealthy Pharisee that he has been less than generous as a host, who can tell popular stories, such as the Good Samaritan, with a despised foreigner as the hero, and the priestly classes as the uncaring passers-by. A Jesus who can stride into the temple, and smash up the church shop, because they’re exploiting true worshippers – and who, for a while, seemed to get away with it, because when he sat down to teach, ordinary people hung on his every word; they recognised God’s voice what he was saying, and a whole host of people, who thought they were worth nothing, suddenly found themselves listened to, understood and valued – lepers, foreign women, children and blind beggars.

This is the Jesus who reached out to touch with love every single part of the world; the man for whom nothing was too dangerous to be faced, because he did so in his own power and strength, but that of God. The message for his followers today is that discipleship is both much scarier, and infinitely more rewarding, than anything else that life could possibly offer. The reward comes, not just after we die and find ourselves in God’s presence – but while we live, because we will discover ourselves to be infinitely precious to him, that every hair of our head is known and cherished by him, every moment of our lives given meaning and a purpose, and nothing ever again can separate us from this all-powerful love. We embark on a great love affair, with one who will never weaken or abandon us. So we can know the joy and the peace of becoming the best version of ourselves that we can possibly be; and all that we really want is to go on knowing him better, and growing in our own self-understanding, basking in his glory. [“The glory of God is a human-being fully alive”]

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The scariness comes because once we have glimpsed this sort of total self-giving love, and the infinite reward it brings, we can never ‘un-see’ it. We can’t ‘un-know’ what we now know to be true for us. We can’t hide from it, and pretend we do not know. Yet once we open ourselves up to that truth, and start to live our lives authentically, in the light of it, then we find ourselves alongside Jesus, and we will find ourselves sharing with him all the experiences that he went through in his life – the joys and the sorrows. We will feel more and care more about the ways in which we live, but we shall also see more clearly what is going on in the world. We will care more about how others can live, and be more involved with them, to bring what is wrong, and hurting others, into the light, so that it can be healed.

Christians, following him, are called to be the whistle-blowers of the world. To see and rejoice in all that is good and loving and of God, no matter how humble or despised the places and people where it is found. But also to hear the voices of those who are hurting from all that is wrong, where injustice reigns, because only the poor can show us where God’s healing love is most needed, to bring what is evil into the light, so that it can be acknowledged, healed and banished for ever.

Jesus knew the inherent conflict of these feelings. At one point he asked his closest disciples, having witnessed some of the dangers they faced, if they wanted to leave him as some others had done. Whereupon Peter replied: “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6.68). But it is why Jesus said to them, in today’s gospel passage, no less than three times: ‘Have no fear …’, ‘Do not fear ’, ‘Do not be afraid ’.

Whistle-blowers can care deeply about the world and all its people, and do not need to be afraid of seeing and feeling also the pain where things are wrong. They try to live themselves according to the standards of love, but because we know that our

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lives cannot be fulfilled, if others are still suffering, whistle-blowers must also speak out against what is wrong. This will never make them popular with those in power in the world, because the vested interests of those who control the world’s systems do not want to see what is the true cost of maintaining their comfortable lifestyles, or preserving the illusion of peace and security, which the few enjoy.

We don’t have to look very far in our present global situation, to see the glaring truth of this. The unequal way in which the Coronavirus has afflicted different nations, and different groups of people within nations, has exposed so much of the inequality and injustices in our societies; the Black Lives Matter movement has revealed the deep-rooted and persistent evils of racism; the unequal way in which the economic, social and educational losses have landed in our own communities should force us to stop, and re-calibrate how we want our own society to be ordered.

Because we are people of faith, we cannot enclose ourselves in a bubble which shuts our eyes and ears to the needs of others, because we know that we will always find Jesus outside of such bubbles, and that he will be sitting down with the outcasts and the poor. But when it seems too daunting to dare to open our eyes to this reality, because we can only see the dangers of speaking out, and we do not know how to solve all that is wrong, then it is that we need to hear again Jesus’s words in our ears ‘Do not be afraid’. And we are carried into prayer which opens the channels so that we can live and work, no longer in our own strength, but by God’s Spirit working in us. As St Augustine is said to have put it: “Work, as if everything depended on you; but Pray, as if everything depended on God.” I invite you now to take a few minutes to reflect on these things – on what it is that you rejoice in in your faith, but also what seems

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scary; what is holding you back from handing over even more of your life overtly to Christ, to do with you, whatever he will. Then as we sing a second worship song, let the words of the song be your prayer this morning, as a disciple of Christ.

SONG: Father, I place into your hands

Father, I place into your hands The things I cannot do. Father, I place into Your hands The things that I've been through. Father, I place into Your hands The way that I should go, For I know I always can trust You.

Father, I place into Your hands My friends and family. Father, I place into Your hands The things that trouble me. Father, I place into Your hands The person I would be, For I know I always can trust You.

Father, we love to seek Your face, We love to hear Your voice. Father, we love to sing Your praise And in Your name rejoice. Father, we love to walk with You And in Your presence rest, For we know we always can trust You.

Father, I want to be with You And do the things You do. Father, I want to speak the words That You are speaking too. Father, I want to love the ones That You will draw to You, For I know that I am one with You.

Jenny Hewer (born 1945) © 1975 Thankyou Music/

Prayers We pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom. You sent your Son to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, freedom to captives, and salvation to your people:

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anoint us with your Spirit; rouse us to work in his name. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.

Send us to bring help to the poor and freedom to the oppressed. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.

Send us to tell the world the good news of your healing love. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.

Send us to those who mourn, to bring joy and gladness instead of grief. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.

Send us to proclaim that the time is here for you to save your people. Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.

God of mercy, you know us and love us, and hear our prayer: keep us in the eternal fellowship of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer Our Father ……

Notices … including a review of the submissions by members of our

Junior Church. Thank you for participating in the service this morning. Do join us if you can on Wednesday evening, at 7.00pm for the Parish Zoom group. See the Weekly Sheet for details. We look forward to welcoming you again next Sunday at 1030 for the next live streamed service, which Colin will be leading. That will be the third Sunday after Trinity.

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Final hymn Who would true valour see, let them come hither; some here will constant be, come wind, come weather; there's no discouragement shall make us once relent our first avowed intent to be a pilgrim.

Whoso beset us round with dismal stories, do but themselves confound; our strength the more is, No lion can us fright; we'll with a giant fight, but we will have a right to be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend can daunt our spirit; we know we at the end shall life inherit. Then, fancies, fly away; we’ll fear not what men say; we'll labour night and day to be a pilgrim.

John Bunyan (1628-1688)

Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast to what is good; render to no-one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted, support the weak; help the afflicted; honour everyone; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit; [1 Thessalonians 5.13-22] and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be amongst you and remain with you, always. Amen. Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.

CCLI No: 1943392