Dear friends,
With grateful thanks to all that helped with our services in Lealholm and Glaisdale this morning. Such a lot goes on behind the scenes to get ready for our services and I’m most grateful to all of us who are able to help. If you couldn’t get to one of our services today, and there’s anything I can help you with, please contact me and I’ll be in touch.
We had the first of our new ‘Celtic Communion’ celebrations at St Thomas at 10:45 this morning, which was well received and attracted some visitors from Guisborough. Thanks to Sarah Mainwaring-Parr for leading our prayers of intercession, that had a wonderful Taize feel to them. We’ll continue with the Celtic and Taize explorations over the summer months at St Thomas. A few of us are meeting on Wednesday evening at 7pm on Zoom to talk about setting up something Taize-based that we could do weekly in Glaisdale, probably either on Saturday or Sunday evenings. If you’d like to be involved in those discussions, please contact me and I’ll send you the Zoom link. It’s exciting to see new things afoot in Glaisdale!
A copy of my sermon from this morning is included below (with the readings and prayers we had), along with details on what’s coming up in the next few days.
Next Sunday we arrive at Pentecost. I hope to see you then, if not before.
With love and summer blessings,
Reverend Anthony
As we continue the Thy Kingdom Come journey from Ascension to Pentecost, can you think of five people to pray for each day over the next week?
Tomorrow
8:30 Contemplative Communion in Goathland
10:30 - 2:30 Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew
1:30 Play Space at St Matthew's
Collect
Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred and twenty people) and said, Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus- for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. So one of the men who have accompanied us throughout the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us-one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection. So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place. And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
Post Communion Prayer
Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sermon - what, or who, is the ‘evil one’?
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.
At the end of our Gospel reading Jesus says to his Father, "I ask you to protect them from the evil one." What, or who, do you think the evil one is?
There is an old Indian story which tells the tale of a woman who was so concerned that her children would be influenced by evil in the outside world that she built a huge wall around her home. Her infant children got used to their restricted space, but as they grew older, they became curious about life beyond their garden. One day, while their mother’s attention was distracted, two of the children climbed over the wall. As they landed on the other side, they were met by lots of local people who laughed at their nervous expressions. The villagers had also been curious to know what existed on the other side of the great wall. But the two children became very frightened and frantically searched for a way back to their home. They couldn’t cope with the world outside the wall.
There’s a very human temptation to build walls around us for protection; to build boundaries around our families or communities in an effort both to guard those inside and to keep others out. But the worst kinds of boundaries are those around our minds: those which cling to outdated concepts, that limit the expansion of thought and the creative imagination that God gave us, so that we could do his work as his hands and feet. Like those children escaping from their comfortable and safe garden, a sudden burst of new ideas can disorientate and frighten us. But if we grow up absorbing the knowledge of Jesus’ confidence in us, we’ll learn how to handle development and change. Jesus is all the protection we’ll need. We shouldn’t need walls.
Jesus didn’t ask his disciples to build a big wall around themselves. He was well aware of the dangers and evils of the world. He’d been subjected to enough of them during his own life and ministry. One of his concerns for them was that they should be protected from the "evil one”! He doesn’t want his followers to be removed from the world, but protected within it. The evil one takes many forms in a world like ours, perhaps even more in number and subtlety than in first-century Palestine. In this great discourse of Jesus at the Last Supper he prays with all his might, not just for those around the Passover table, but for the whole Church, then and to come in the future. He wants his followers to remain faithful to his teaching. He knows that this is the way that God's world can be renewed and made more perfect. Not an easy task in a world where many people, in fact most people, reject his message.
Jesus’ disciples, those who accept and hand on his teaching, will also receive harsh treatment. Christianity isn’t going to be easy. But Jesus has confidence in his disciples, and he has confidence in us: in our ability to keep his message alive, despite the hardships and dangers. Jesus believes in us, and we can feel supported by his prayers for our protection and encouragement.
For many of us self-doubt and lack of confidence in ourselves as Christians keeps us from realising the degree of faith that God has in us. Each Christian has been given the skills and faith needed to deepen our knowledge of the truths in the Bible throughout our lives. But there are dangers and we do need protection not only from our own weaknesses, but from the "dark forces": those aspects of life which are not of God, which can divert or tempt us away from God's grace. Jesus had no doubt of the quality of those he called to follow him, then and now. We are gifted just as they were.
Of course we have our doubts, we struggle with questions of faith. But this is part of our gift to God, that we persist in spite of difficulty. Walls which restrict our movement or thought cannot protect us, but God can. The Father hears the prayers of his Son on our behalf. If Jesus has confidence in us, as individuals and as part of the Church, then we should have confidence in ourselves and in each other. We’re a force for tremendous good in the world: in our families and communities. In acts of generosity, and in simple acts of kindness, we make the presence of God visible. And, then, under the protection of Christ, we become confident disciples, sanctified and consecrated in the truth and ready to spread his word by living out the example of his love.
As we move through the period between Ascension and Pentecost, the period of ‘Thy Kingdom Come,’ let’s pray for people we know. Let’s pray for them to know God more deeply. Let’s pray for them to come under the protection of Christ too.
Amen
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The Reverend Anthony Bennett
Interim Minister – the Benefice of Middle ESK Moor
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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.