Dear friends,

I’m writing this after an incredibly busy week that marked the end of my first year here with you all. It has been such a privilege being with you. I was reflecting on my first anniversary in the sermon I preached last week in Lealholm, which is included below. I was asking people how they think I’m doing? Please have a think and drop me an email: good, or bad. Negatives or positives. I’d love to get some feedback.

I’m away next Sunday, 2nd June, but am delighted that The Reverend Michael Gobbet will be taking our services in Lealholm and Goathland. I’m sure those of you at either of those services will give him a very warm welcome. He’s very much looking forwards to coming. There won’t be any email updates while I’m away. We’re taking a few days holiday in the Scottish Highlands, and we can’t wait to escape! I’ll be back in time to lead our new ‘Celtic Communion’ on Sunday 9th June (see below). Do join me at that if you can.

With love and blessings,

Reverend Anthony

Coming up in Middle ESK Moor 

In the next couple of weeks

Please visit our website for all the info: middleESKmoor.org

Sunday 9th June

We have our new ‘Celtic Communion’ service in Glaisdale. Details are in the attachment.

Our next Community Forum meeting will be taking place alongside a joint meeting of our four parochial church councils (PCCs) on Saturday 20 July, 2:30-5:30 at St Hilda’s and The Vicarage in Egton. Further details to follow, but all are welcome to attend - you don’t need to be on one of our PCCs.

Last Sunday in Lealholm for Pentecost

Collect

Holy Spirit, sent by the Father,
ignite in us your holy fire;
strengthen your children with the gift of faith,
revive your Church with the breath of love,
and renew the face of the earth,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Post Communion Prayer

Faithful God,
who fulfilled the promises of Easter
by sending us your Holy Spirit
and opening to every race and nation
the way of life eternal:
open our lips by your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Readings

Acts 2.1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

“In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
Even upon my slaves, both men and women,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit;
and they shall prophesy.
And I will show portents in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
The sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day.
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

John 15.26-27, 16.4b-15

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.

But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them.

‘I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, “Where are you going?” But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

‘I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Sermon

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.

I have a couple of clergy friends that are completely obsessed with football. And some of us might say that football is almost a religion these days. It certainly has its dedicated followers, vast numbers of them. You’d be forgiven for thinking that football on Saturdays is more popular than Church on Sundays. Well, I’m not so sure that’s the case. Ian Paul, a theologian, Anglican minister and writer wrote about this on his blog recently. He confirmed that Church of England regular attendance is around 850,000, or around 1.5% of the population in England. But that represents less than a quarter of all attendance from the different denominations, which would be at least 3.4 million, or around 6% of the population in England as a whole. Research from the Bible Society ties in with that, telling us that weekly attendance is slightly higher at around 7%, but those attending at least monthly is more likely to be around 10% of the population. During football season match days, the total attendance at matches of the first four divisions is around 720,000. In 2020/21, a record breaking 26.8 million people or 40% of the population watched a live Premier League match at some point during the year. But that’s still lower than the 27.5 million identifying as ‘Christian’ in the latest ONS survey of religion! So, I’d like to affirm that the Christian faith is still far more popular, in terms of commitment and affiliation, than football!

In terms of our attendance here, across Middle ESK Moor, we have 2400 people living in the Benefice and around 40 people involved in attending something each week. I have 80 people signed up to my weekly emails. So, we have a wider connection that isn’t yet translating into people coming along to something. Those that do, 1.7% of the population, represent a slightly higher proportion than we might expect from the national 1.5% figure. A cause for optimism, yes, but not for complacency. My first year here comes to an end tomorrow, and I think we’ve started to make some progress in growing interest and people across our churches.

But I wonder how you think I’m doing?

Please have a think and drop me an email: good, or bad. Negatives or positives. I’d love to get some feedback.

Thinking about football and Pentecost got me reflecting on whether football is actually rather more like a religion than a sport. I‘m sure we’ve all seen, at least on TV, the almost cathedral like atmosphere in a huge stadium on the day of a big match. The impression becomes clearer still when the crowd sings songs together. Supporters identify strongly with ‘their’ team, willing them on to glory with a passion that puts some church congregations, to shame! On the pitch, the eleven players work as a team, putting into practice all the moves their coach has taught them through all their preparation. They’ve learned the rules of the game and, on the whole, they follow them; if only because they know the game will descend into chaos otherwise! And one special person has the responsibility of ensuring that the rules are indeed followed, interpreted correctly in any given situation on the pitch, so that gifted players can produce a game worthy of all their hard work and training. That person is the referee. The referee helps those gifts come to the fore.

So, what on earth has football got to do with Pentecost, you may well ask! Well, I’ll try to explain…

In the reading from John’s gospel, Jesus is preparing his team. While he was on this earth, he was the disciples’ team manager, but he was also responsible for teaching his disciples the way they had to play the game. So, in many ways he was like a referee too. The scene for our Gospel reading is the Last Supper, after Jesus has washed his disciples' feet. Judas has already set off to betray Jesus, so Jesus is left with eleven of "the Twelve", and with those others who John calls "the disciples", the much wider group of Jesus' followers, many women and men. Although Jesus has trained his squad, coached them for the important fixture that lies ahead; although he’s encouraged their talents, passions and their dedication, he won’t be with them on the pitch. His job is almost done. He’s going to walk towards the Cross, rise at the Resurrection and wait to Ascend to the Father. But he promises to send his squad a new referee. He promises to send someone who will help them interpret what he’s been teaching them. He’ll help them interpret any situation they might find themselves in. Jesus is returning to the Father, but he will send ‘the Advocate,’ ‘the Spirit of Truth,’ to guide his followers.

At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended upon all the disciples, just as Jesus had promised. In the vivid scene we’ve had read to us from Acts, Peter uses Joel's prophecy to make sense of what he’s seen: men and women, suddenly inspired to communicate with people of all nations; inspired to tell the world about God's mighty intervention in the destiny of humanity, through the action of Jesus Christ. "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy," God had promised through Joel.

Prophecy isn’t the foretelling of the future, but the interpretation of God's word in the present, for the present. The Holy Spirit is the force that enables that interpretation; and that power of prophesy; that power to interpret God’s word, is available to each of us today; just as it was to the disciples two millennia ago.

But referees aren’t always popular, are they? Players don’t always agree with their decisions. And in the world today, people still resist the Holy Spirit. And I guess that the Holy Spirit is not always a comfortable companion. The Spirit of Truth comes to jolt us out of our complacency, to challenge the world, to search our hearts. But most of all, the Advocate comes to point us more towards Jesus, to glorify him and to remind us of his teaching. The Holy Spirit is still moving in the Church today as the Gospel is interpreted for a third millennium. We’re faced with many new situations, undreamt of in first-century Palestine: economic, social and ethical situations. And all exacerbated by political and military instability in many parts of our world, and the many other challenges facing us. There are dilemmas today for which no easy answers can be found in our study of the Bible. And we all know of arguments in which the Bible is cited by both sides, with equal conviction. So, we need continually to ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our worship, in our church involvement, and in our daily lives. We need to cast aside our prejudices and presumptions and listen to the Spirit of Truth, who reminds us of the teachings of Jesus and encourages us to apply those teachings. Like the referee interpreting the rules of the game in specific situations, the Spirit will show us how those two clear commandments of Jesus can be applied:

to “love God with all your heart,

and [to] love your neighbour as yourself.”

A good referee always allows a game to flow, stepping in only when there is conflict, and reminding players of the rules. In that way, a good referee encourages players to use to the full the passions they have and the skills their coach has taught them. By listening to the Spirit, the referee, we can focus our passions and develop the skills we need to play our part in the church: to live out our vocation to serve others by sharing God’s love in our communities. By listening to the Spirit, we can live the lives Jesus wants us to live. And, collectively, we can ensure that coming to our church services and activities to find God remains the most popular regular activity we can engage with, because it’s the most important endeavour for us; a matter of life and death, no less.

Living the lives Jesus wants us to live in the power of the Holy Spirit is the most important endeavour we can be part of; the most important affiliation we can have; the most important commitment we can make.

As we move into my second year here with you, let’s reaffirm that commitment and our affiliation to share God’s love together in this place.

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.