Middle ESK Moor

Our first joint meeting of our four parishes took place on Saturday 20th July at Egton Primary School. 28 people from across our communities joined together in a lively and positive discussion. We built on all the energy we’ve created and hard work we have done over the last year to develop 12 key priorities to take forwards over the next 3 months. Meeting notes are available here, including the 12 key priorities, for you to download.

If you couldn’t get to the meeting but would like to get involved in one of our new teams - Pastoral Care, Ministry, Sustainability or Fundraising - please email [email protected] and we’ll put you in touch with the right person.

You’re invited to come to our next joint meeting in October. Please click on this link before 3 August and add your availability for any of the possible dates shown. We will then determine the best date for our next joint meeting.

Want to help with Holy Communion?

If you’re interested in helping to set up Holy Communion on Sunday mornings, distribute the bread and wine in church and/or take Holy Communion to people in their homes, Jackie Newton is running a special training session:

Aislaby Church (St Margaret’s)
Saturday 17 August, 10:30 to midday.

If you’re available, please do go along and find out more, or email [email protected] for any further information you need.

Sabbath Time: do you rest for a while?

This is the sermon Reverend Anthony preached last week in Lealholm and Egton, and you can download the readings for last Sunday here.

“Our gospel reading today is about the feeding of the five thousand, but I’d like to focus in on the first part of our passage and think a little bit about Sabbath time; times when we can rest quietly in stillness; times when we take a break from our daily lives, lives that can get quite hectic. After Jesus’ disciples return from their hectic work spreading the Good News, Jesus says to them, ‘“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.”

Jesus instructs his disciples to rest for a while.

We can think of today, Sunday, as the Sabbath day, our day of rest. And I wonder, do you tend to put the whole of today aside to rest? For me, Friday is my day off, my rest day. So, I think of Fridays as Sabbath days for me. And over the last seven years or so I’ve tried to take a full day out: switching off the internet on my phone, switching on my answering machine, going for quiet walks without too many distractions. But rather than a full day there could be a period each day for rest; for Sabbath time.

I guess it’s up to each of us to carve out sufficient time through the week to rest. And then, if we can intentionally make time for the Sabbath, we’re actively creating gaps in the flow of time. We’re providing sanctuaries from the rush of our daily lives. And that ceasing from our normal activity in the world can release us to experience the beauty of life as God intended. Entrance into Sabbath rest requires a shift of our consciousness, from the particular details of our lives to the enormity of the infinite Christ we continue to read about as we continue to journey through Ephesians over the next few weeks.

To follow a Sabbath-rhythm is to break from our normal patterns so we might start to cultivate our hearts and minds in the image of Christ. And God's prescribed rest provides a way for us to experience refreshment so that we can reorientate ourselves; to gaze on Christ’s beauty and see that beauty in one another and in his creation.

Sabbath, I think, is God's way of drawing us into a place of rest where we might begin to tap into the divine imagination and wisdom that brought the entire universe into being. But to speak of the beauty of the Sabbath, isn’t an attempt to over-spiritualize or to think of the Sabbath only in terms of rest for the soul. The Sabbath is also about real, physical rest. As human beings we’re still very much a part of the material world. And our bodies, of course, require sustenance, activity and rest. The Sabbath is as much about our participation in the physical world as it is about experiencing the spiritual realities of God's kingdom. Too often Christian leaders, people like me, have been guilty of overemphasizing the spiritual and neglecting the importance of the physical: Sabbath-keeping is a practice that encompasses the whole person: body, mind and spirit. And the beauty of Sabbath rest is that it reflects the glory of God. And the Sabbath then leads all creation towards wholeness in communion with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Sabbath is concerned with this world and the world to come. And every time we practise Sabbath rest, I think we can begin to experience the taste of what it will mean to rest and dwell in the fullness of God's presence. Keeping the Sabbath is to experience the gift from the beginning of creation that has been further unveiled through the revelation of Jesus, the intimate presence of Jesus Christ with us.

Earlier in Marks’ Gospel, in Chapter 2 verse 27 Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for humanity: God's gift of rest and wholeness for his people. But like any gift, we can choose to refuse it or just ignore it. Can we live the Christian life without keeping the Sabbath? Well, yes and no, I guess. But it would be like asking a professional orchestra to play a symphony on old, rickety instruments with tattered strings, rusted pieces and worn-out bows. They would certainly be able to play the piece and they might even make it sound fairly good. But if they received the gift of new instruments, they could play music so beautiful that the world would want to listen.

The Church is that orchestra and each of us is offered the gift of Sabbath rest, a new instrument if you like. That gift allows us to play the music of the kingdom here on earth - a music of love, forgiveness, justice, reconciliation and healing. And the invitation to join in God's holy time is available to us all. The Sabbath has been consecrated from the beginning of creation, but now God invites us to consecrate dedicated time as we cease from our actions in the world. The more we can participate in the gift of the Sabbath, the more we can experience the beauty of God's rest in our lives.

The Sabbath also reminds us that we are pilgrims travelling through this world and in need of refreshment. In the wilderness the Israelites needed rest and the gift of bread from heaven to sustain them. In the same way, as we journey in this life, we need the bread of heaven and the true bread of heaven given through Jesus.

The beauty of rest begins with the beauty of dwelling in the presence of God, and this is where the Sabbath is leading us. So, let’s create some more Sabbath time in the rest of this service and the rest of today, or at some other time over the next few days if you already have lots of things planned today.

I invite us all to create some intentional time to rest in God’s presence;

to take some Sabbath time.

Amen.”

---

The Reverend Anthony Bennett

middleESKmoor.org

Enriching, Sharing, Knowing

Bible passages are from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000-2024). material from which is included in this email, are copyright © The Archbishops’ Council.

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.