Dear friends,
Welcome to my latest update, including our church news and a copy of my sermon from yesterday.
We had two wonderful and encouraging gatherings in Middle ESK Moor yesterday. In Goathland we met at St Mary’s in the morning for Holy Communion as we celebrated All Saints’ Day. In the afternoon, we met at The Hollin’s Institute in Grosmont (the home of Helen Leech) for our first ‘Fellowship Space,’ a time for singing songs and hymns, praying and for getting to know each other. Both events were well attended and featured much cake and biscuits! With grateful thanks to Helen Leech and Randall Sykes for the hospitality. We plan to have another Fellowship Space on the first Sunday in December (3rd) at 3:30 pm, and then hopefully it will become a regular feature on the first Sunday of each month.
Another of our new gatherings is coming up tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 6:30 to 8:00 pm - ‘Sharing Space’ at Green Farm, Egton YO21 1UG. Here’s the location: https://w3w.co/social.listening.twilight (this is a precise what3words address, made of 3 random words; every 3 metre square in the world has its own unique what3words address). We’ll agree a topic or topics for discussion when we get together. The purpose of this group is to create a space where language and concepts we use to discuss faith can be explored safely, and greater insight developed. The group meets every two weeks in different homes and is open to all, of faith and no faith. A space to listen, share and question. Please contact me for further information: [email protected]. Might see you there?
Also, please don’t forget that ‘Breathing Space,’ a contemplative and meditative time for morning prayer in the stillness, continues every Wednesday morning at 9:00 to 9:45 am in St Matthew’s, Grosmont. You are most welcome to come along to this and experience a quieter time of prayer together.
In other news, Snap, Crackle and Pop (see header photo) have arrived as new additions to the family at The Vicarage, and we’re enjoying the fresh eggs already! I’m on holiday for almost two weeks from 21st November, and Sam and I are hoping to get away for a week from Friday 24th November to Friday 1st December. We were wondering if one or a couple of you might be able to check on the hens and top up their food and water for us while we’re away? We will also need someone to unlock and lock the church too, please? We’d be very grateful for any help with this. Thanks!
If you haven’t seen it yet, the report from the ‘Where next? Charting the future’ Benefice Forum meeting is available for you to have a look at. Here’s the link: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/benefice/43-109CM/news/114752/
And, finally, if there’s anyone you think would find this update useful please ask them to subscribe via this link: http://eepurl.com/izDueg.
With prayers and all good wishes,
Anthony
Church Services, Events and Meetings Coming Up
All details are on our website, including dates for upcoming PCC meetings and our Remembrance Sunday services. Please visit: middleESKmoor.org. Please note that the Remembrance Service in Egton at 9:30 on Sunday will be a shorter service of morning worship not a holy communion service. It will end at 10:15 to allow time for Reverend Anthony to get up to Goathland for the service there.
The Collect - Our Gathering Prayer - for All Saints’ Day
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: grant us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living that we may come to those inexpressible joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Frist Reading: 1 John 3:1-3
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Second Reading: Matthew 5:1-12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Sermon, preached at St Mary’s, Goathland
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts together be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock, and redeemer. Amen.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
I’d like to focus on that Bible verse this morning. It’s one of the Beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, that we’ve just heard. Some people might think it’s the trickiest one of the Beatitudes to understand. But I think it’s quite a key one for us to focus on for today, with it being All Saints’ Day. Now, I wonder, do you have a favourite saint?
My favourite, if I had to pick one, is St Mary, and it’s wonderful to think this church building is dedicated after her. I could spend a whole sermon, or series of sermons, explaining why Mary is my favourite, but I’d like to leave that for Christmas. So, you’ll have to bear with me!
When we look at statues and stained-glass windows in churches, we often see images of the different saints: people through the ages that have been venerated and appointed by the church. People chosen by people: to be ‘set apart.’ And these are very important people in other traditions of the Christian church, saints that we might pray through to reach God: saints that might intercede on our behalf. The importance placed on those saints might make them feel very removed from our lives: perhaps a definition of those saints would be "people who are not like us." Perhaps the saints we meet in our church windows and buildings are so far removed from us that they appear as flat, two-dimensional beings, cold, unyielding, like stone? In comparison, our lives are mixed and messed up, multi-dimensional and complex, certainly not saintly!
So, is it possible to be saintly and in a mess?
We can say, with conviction, saints were not, and are not, people like us! That’s true, isn’t it? So, shall we give up on today’s celebration of All Saint’s Day? Shall we change the theme!? Well, hold on for a minute. Let’s see what Jesus says to us in the Bible first. That’s always a good place to start when we get in a bit of a mess…
Our Gospel passage today - the Sermon on the Mount - is one of the most familiar in the Bible. Jesus claims authority to teach, by assuming the seated position of the teacher. By firmly placing this collection of Jesus’ teachings on "the mountain," Matthew is inviting us to make a comparison with Moses:
Moses, the lawgiver; Jesus, the giver of the new law.
Although clearly significant, it isn’t immediately clear how to interpret Jesus' teaching here. It’s difficult to translate the Greek word makarioi, which begins each of the Beatitudes. Makarioi came to be used in Greek culture to mean "how fortunate", or "how lucky". Some Bible translations offer "happy” as an appropriate English translation for the start of each Beatitude, perhaps suggesting a sense of "congratulations!"
“Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!”
How does that sound? Well, it’s actually more probable that Jesus was basing his teaching on an ancient Hebrew tradition, such as in Psalm 1, verse 1, where "happy" is used to describe being "right with God." This is in contrast to describing "how I feel" about God. Happiness verses blessings; subjective versus objective.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
That sounds better. Certainly more familiar. But is this objective blessing, promised for us, for the present times or the future times? Well, the kingdom of heaven is found both in the present times, but also the future experience and reality of peace, "shalom." And shalom represents the right relationship with God and one another that can only be found in Jesus. This right relationship is given, not earned. And this right relationship belongs to the "poor in spirit", not “the confident in spirit.”
"Poor in spirit” is a description of the need we all have at the heart of our beings. It’s not a description of inherent weakness. It’s an expression of our utter reliance upon God. It’s not to do with a feeling of satisfaction with ourselves, a sense of emotion about our lives. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus is reaffirming God's love for the poor, as those who turn to him for mercy. And in our reliance upon God, the heart of the divine kingdom is re-established.
Those that are “poor in spirit” are those that have fully surrendered their lives to God:
those who presently suffer in weakness. In the fullness of time their redemption will be at the hands of God.
So, what does all this teach us about saints? Are the saints to be seen as set apart? Well, on All Saints' Day, maybe we need to see that we are also the saints: all of you and me, along with Mary and all the more ‘famous’ saints. The Beatitudes describe as "blessed" the lives of those who struggle, and suffer, and know their weakness. These are not the lives of stained glass, or stone saints, but the lives of real people learning to rely on God in their everyday successes and failures: working together for that day when God's purposes will finally be revealed. These are saints, like Mary, that “ponder all these things” in their hearts. They weep uncontrollably at the foot of the cross.
Our hope isn’t that we will live our lives like an imaginary successful life lived by a saint from history. No, our hope is that we will know ourselves as accepted by God's grace as members of his growing family of saints, a membership that stretches backwards and forwards in time, for all eternity. Our membership of that family of saints isn’t guaranteed by what we have done for Jesus. No, our membership is guaranteed by what Jesus has done for us. We’re challenged to live out this truth in our lives, the truth that we’re children of God as a response to what Jesus has done for us. We must know that our present experience will be one including struggle and pain. But we must also know that we’re encouraged by the future hope of glory.
We are the saints; we are the poor in spirit.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Amen.
The Reverend Anthony Bennett
Interim Minister – the Benefice of Middle ESK Moor
middleESKmoor.org
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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.