How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! In our Gospel it is 6 days from Passover and the Pharisees are out to get Jesus, as he knows only too well. He escapes to the home of his friends where Mary shows extraordinary extravagance, abundance and gratitude, just what Jesus needed for his wellbeing. Mary had recently gone through the pain of the death of her beloved brother Lazarus, witnessed the miracle of his resurrection and was in a highly emotional state. She was aware of the danger Jesus was in as she had listened and perceived. Mary gives Jesus a personal expensive gift of oils, an expression of her love and gratitude, filling the whole house with fragrance that permeated the atmosphere. What a privilege to be able to show love to the living God while he was in her home! Mary poured oils on his feet and used her hair as a towel, an intimate act and in her culture a shocking display of emotion and vulnerability. An act that was sensory, symbolic and filled with meaning.Mary anointed Jesus! This was revolutionary for a woman but not in God’s kingdom. Anointing is a symbol of Jesus being priest and king. Anointing was also performed to prepare a body for burial. The time had come for Jesus to walk to his death on the cross and Mary was preparing Jesus’ feet for this.Mary mirrored Jesus washing his disciples feet at the last supper. By this Jesus showed that he was a servant king giving all he had for us, as Mary gave all she had to him. We are called to symbolically wash one another’s feet, thereby to love one another.Mary expressed kingdom values. Gifts can be a blessing and used to spread the fragrance of God’s kingdom and by generosity we can enjoy the blessings of both giving and receiving. God blesses us by giving good things, as all things come from him, and we are called to do likewise by sharing our gifts.Mary pampered Jesus when his feet walked this earth. She ministered to him, soothed him and gave him rest. Our feet earth us, they are sensitive to our world of sand, sea, grass. In reflexology our feet are used as a map our body. Mary could have been giving Jesus reflexology and aromatherapy therapy.Judas ‘moneybags’ stated that the money paid for the expensive oil should instead have helped the poor. He tried to bring a spiritual act down to a material level but Jesus said to Judas ‘you will always have the poor but you won’t always have me’. Let us do our giving while we are living! Grab the moment and seize the day! Jesus lifted up the poor and came to bring good news to all. Loving Jesus and loving the poor are the same, inseparable, as expressed in the hymn by Sydney Carter: Said Jesus to Mary, “Your love is so deep, today you may do as you will. Tomorrow, you say, I am going away, but my body I leave with you still.”“The poor of the world are my body,” he said, “to the end of the world they shall be. The bread and the blankets you give to the poor you’ll know you have given to me.”Angela Stewart (lay minister)
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.’. (Psalm126:5-6)Hymn: Fight the good fight with all your might...Psalm 126As we enter into Passiontide and the events of the cross unfold, let us search our hearts and confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; 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.John 12:1-8Please see the Message from the Minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the new life of the Lord to be known to everyone:We pray for the members of St Peter’s Church, that we will grow in faith and service;We pray for our planet, that all people will thrive and build and work together in peace;We pray for our friends, families and neighbours - for healthy relationships;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, for God’s tender touch to be known;We pray for the departed, that all who grieve the loss of loved ones will be comforted.Let us pray as Jesus taught us: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.Hymn: From heaven you came...May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us and guide us on our way at every change and turn; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
Mothering Sunday - Here is your MotherIt is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Once called ‘Mid-Lenting’ in some traditions, it’s also called ‘Laetare’ from the Latin for ‘Rejoice’. It’s the root of the word ‘laughter’. We’ve reached the point when we take a little break from our Lenten fasting and draw breath, before we rush into Passiontide, Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter.It is also, of course, Mothering Sunday. In medieval times folks gave thanks for their ‘mother church’ on this day - sometimes their parish, sometimes their cathedral. From the seventeenth century onwards, it became a Sunday when young people in service were sent home for the day to visit their families.From the 1920s onwards, Mother’s Day in the USA and Mothering Sunday in the UK began to be developed and promoted as a day on which to give thanks for mothers. This was especially important following the First World War, when so many lost children to warfare and disease. So, it’s a rich day, with much more to it than buying a card for your mum (though that’s important too!).Mothering is a gift we can all experience and exercise, whoever we are. The act of mothering can be done by all of us, to anyone of any age. We can ‘mother’ as individuals and as communities. The readings set for today contain good examples of mothering and help us to focus on three qualities: care, courage and compassion.In the Book of Exodus Pharoah carries out ethnic cleansing. All Hebrew babies were to be drowned in the Nile. But one Levite mother takes great care to conceal her baby boy for three months. She then takes the enormous risk of placing him in a waterproof basket in the crocodile-infested Nile and trusting his future to God. Desperate times demand desperate measures and tremendous courage. Pharaoh’s daughter, finding the baby, is moved by his crying and identifies him as a Hebrew. In her compassion, she takes an enormous risk to save the baby. The baby’s sister is watching out for him - caring what happens - and in a stroke of courageous genius, intervenes to suggest that her mother might help to raise the baby. So, Moses is raised by his mother, under patronage, ensuring that he is absolutely safe. Not only that, his mother gets paid for raising him. All three women are exercising amazing mothering in this story, showing care, courage and compassion. But, did you notice? God is also mothering, weaving an imaginative, brilliant and compassionate rescue that will lead eventually to the liberation of the Israelites.Jump forward hundreds of years to the crucifixion. In our Gospel reading Jesus is on the cross, looking down on his mother Mary and the beloved disciple who is not named here but traditionally acknowledged to be John. Care, courage and compassion feature heavily in this story too. All three show extraordinary courage in the face of this horrific episode of torture and slow execution.From the cross, Jesus creates a new family. Mary and John are brought together as parent and child to care for one another in the years ahead, bridging the gap left by a son and a friend. Jesus shows immense courage to die as an innocent on behalf of the world, and in that moment to have sufficient care and compassion to look out for those you leave behind. These biblical examples of ‘mothering’ are perhaps beyond the scope of most of us. But the mothering qualities of care, courage and compassion that make such a difference in people’s lives take place every day, in communities all over the world. They take place in this community too.So, how’s your mothering going? Where are you showing those qualities of care, courage and compassion? How might we do more of this as a Christian community? Caring for those in need in our parish and beyond, having the courage to call out injustice and making ourselves unpopular for the sake of those whose voices go unheard, walking alongside the suffering and broken, with compassion to bring consolation and hope for the future. Economically, environmentally and politically it all seems bleak at the moment. But so it was for the Israelites and those first followers of Jesus. Let’s not allow our feelings of powerlessness hinder our capacity to to exercise care, courage and compassion and in doing so take back power!On this mid-Lent Mothering Sunday, pause and give thanks for those who have mothered you down the years, and pray that the Lord may fill you with the gifts of care, courage and compassion as you seek to follow Jesus Christ faithfully in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.Every blessing,Christian
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the guard keeps watch in vain.’ (Psalm 127:1)Hymn: Jesus good above all other...Exodus 2: 1 - 10; Colossians 3: 12 - 17The Spirit of the Lord fills the world and knows our every word and deed. Let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: God of love, passionate and strong, tender and careful: watch over us and hold us all the days of our life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Luke 2: 33 - 35Please see the Message from the Minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the light of the Lord to be known to everyone:We pray for the members of St Peter’s Church, that we will grow in faith and service;We pray for our planet, that all people will thrive and work together in peace;We pray for our friends, families and neighbours - that we may build relationships:We especially pray today for mothers everywhere, and for those who mother others;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, for God’s healing touch to be known;We pray for the departed, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray as Jesus taught us: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.Hymn: Lord of all hopefulness...May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us and guide us on our way at every change and turn; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
