Church Services Coming Up
Sunday 30 July (Fifth Sunday) – 10:30 at Egton, St Hilda, Holy Communion
the Summer Fair at St Matthew’s in Grosmont is happening on this day from 11 am – please do come along and support it if you can – the Grand Prize draw is at 3 pm.
Sunday 6 August – 10:30 at Goathland, St Mary, Holy Communion
Sunday 13 August – 10:30 at Lealholm, St James, Holy Communion
Sunday 20 August – 10:30 at Egton, St Hilda, Holy Communion
followed by refreshments/lunch in The Vicarage – please do come along – we’ll be having an extended ‘house warming party’ all afternoon (until 5 pm) - Just bring yourself and any friends/family too, all welcome!
Sunday 27 August – 10:30 at Grosmont, St Matthew, Holy Communion
Readings for Sunday 23 July
follow these links to view the readings:
Sermon for Sunday 23 July at St Matthew’s, Grosmont
Gosh, “weeping and gnashing of teeth” this week! And talk about “children of the evil one!” I always seem to get a challenging Gospel reading at St Matthew’s! But we can’t ignore it, so I’ve got some thoughts here for you this week for any of you with “ears to listen!” But before we get started on all that, I just wanted to say that as well as emailing my sermons, I’ve been putting copies on our website, which you can find at middleeskmoor.org, and If you know someone else that might appreciate a copy, please direct them to our website or you could ask them to send an email to [email protected] and I’ll add them to the circulation list.
In last week’s sermon I was saying that, as we meet people that aren’t connected to the church, we could start to get to know them by listening to their answer to a very simple question: what can the church do to help you? Because by listening to others we are listening to Jesus. And I was saying that there are limits to the number of people me, and indeed any of us, can get to know well, so I need your help with the big task of listening to others to help us chart a way forward as we think about how we can help to grow God’s Church in this place together. I gave out some placemats last week with the ancient words from the Book of Numbers on them, where God speaks words of blessing to Moses:
‘The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.’
I suggested that we could pass that blessing on to others we meet. Did you manage to sit down over a cup of tea and ask someone: what can the church do to help you?
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I’ve been so blessed the last few weeks, especially through our four local primary schools, where I’ve been invited to lead worship and assemblies. I was talking with one of the teachers this week, asking them ‘what can the church do to help you?’ We started to think ahead to Harvest but then our conversation went off on a tangent into how that teacher had got into teaching, and how some of their training was particularly challenging, with one placement in a very difficult school. When you walk into the primary schools around here, certainly in my experience so far, you walk into wonderful spaces with excellent behaviour and attentiveness. You find places full of joy and creativity. Teachers are respected, the rules obeyed, and the schools can be seen clearly for the good schools they are. But you can walk into other schools and discover a bedlam of noise, disturbance and an undercurrent of violence which holds the schools and the children back. The teacher I was with did a placement in such a school. They spoke of the school having a ‘padded classroom’ where some especially violent primary school children were put for their own safety. Imagine that – a padded cell in one of our lovely local primary schools! But such a reality exists in our education system, and I guess the differences we see emerge because of the conditions outside school in those children’s lives.
Within each school we will find sincere young people, keen to learn, and others who appear to care nothing about education. Maybe we might find that in secondary schools more than primary schools around here? And we can find a lack of respect for teachers even among students whose background and advantages might have encouraged them to have self-confidence and a desire to learn, but for some reason they don’t. We can find others whose poverty and lack of stability can undermine their potential and self-respect. They aren’t prepared for the demands of school, against which they rebel. But each child is unique with a unique story that influences their behaviour. And teachers work very hard to listen and understand why the children in their care react the way they do. In the end, though, perhaps the complex external circumstances beyond a child’s control are to blame for their attitudes and bad behaviour?
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If we turn to today’s Gospel reading, to the ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’, I wonder who Jesus’ words apply to? There has been much discussion about this over the centuries. It would be easy to believe that it is the world in general that Jesus is addressing. Or, the parable could refer to those people in Israel, 2050 years ago, who would not accept Jesus as the Messiah. But others suggest that the parable actually refers to us, the members of God’s own Church: let’s go with that interpretation. Let’s imagine that this parable is written for us.
In his explanation of the parable, Jesus says that it’s the Son of Man "who sows the good seed," and he also says that "the field is the world." So, Jesus draws us into his church. We gather in his name, we become his chosen ones: God’s people. But amongst us, his chosen ones, weeds are sown by the evil one, Satan, the one that leads us into temptation and separates us from God. I wonder how we define evil? Might we describe those badly behaved children as evil? Or would we see the horrific destruction in Ukraine as being evil? Where does evil begin and end? Are there degrees of evil? Maybe that’s a discussion for another time but I guess we could agree that there’s always been evil in the world at large – there’s always been separation and turning away from God’s goodness. It was partly to overcome such behaviour that Jesus came into the world in the first place.
Our Gospel reading was written when the Church was in its early stages of development, so, perhaps this parable is a warning: just because the teaching of Jesus is the perfect model to be followed, some of his followers are not perfect, just like the badly behaved children in school. It would be wonderful to think that the influence of Jesus would instantly transform all his followers to mirror him in every way, but life isn’t like that, and neither are people. Spiritual opportunities, like educational opportunities, can transform people but also those opportunities can be abused: a good influence can turn rotten and poison the whole. And those of us that have done any of our church safeguarding courses will have heard various examples of where things have gone badly rotten in the Church of England. So, maybe this parable is reminding us that, even in the best surroundings, some good people change, becoming like weeds in a field of good grain. Maybe Jesus is warning us against assuming that all people in his field are wholesome. It is his word, his influence, his life which must guide us, or we may end up collected together with the weeds and dealt with accordingly!
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So, is today’s reading, then, an impetus for us to improve our safeguarding procedures? Well, no, we have robust procedures in place, although we do need to keep reviewing and developing those. No, I think that today’s parable is more about asking the next question: “can a bad seed change its nature?"
Of course, we need to watch out for and guard against bad influences. We need to be careful about assuming a level of trustworthiness without making sure all the necessary safeguarding checks are in place. But what about those children whose disadvantaged start in life disturbs their behaviour? Or what about those church members who have been swayed by other influences? What about all the pressures we face in society? What about all the temptations we face? What about all the evil that permeates our world? Yes, all those negatives are there. They are real. But we have a God of possibilities and creative opportunities. What about the possibility of change: for badly behaved children, for developing churches, for us?
It’s important to heed Jesus' warnings and that’s why we have our set readings each week, so we can deal with difficult Gospel messages, and we can follow Jesus’ teaching. But it’s crucial that we don’t become paralysed by fear! Jesus never gave up on anyone; indeed, just before his own death Jesus forgave a criminal and promised him a place in heaven: not at some time in the future or at "the end of the age," but that very day! And how amazing is that! Just like that criminal, leaving behind our evil ways is an opportunity we can each recommit to every single day. Forgiveness by God is complete for us and all those who repent and turn back to God. And forgiveness brings change. And change leads to transformation.
So, perhaps, then the answer to our question, ”can a bad seed change its nature,” is "no": a seed cannot change its own character, but God can change our character! God can transform lives! How can we join in with that transformation? Well, just as teachers work very hard to listen and understand why the children in their care react like they do, perhaps we need to continue to listen carefully to the people we meet too?
Amen.
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these two books, edited by Jane Williams, are continuing to be very helpful with planning my sermon writing:
Williams, J (2009), Ed., ‘Lost for Words, A Sermon Resource for the Anglican Three Year Cycle,’ Redemptorist Publications, Chawton, UK.
Williams, J (2011), Ed., ‘Lectionary Reflections, Years A, B and C.’ Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London, UK.