And now for the good news!Following two cold years, our heating has at last been repaired!You were always sure of a warm welcome at St Peter’s, whoever you are - but now you know there will also be heating.
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, without wavering, for (God) who has promised is faithful”. (Hebrews 10. 23)This is just what we need to hear, especially after news of the resignation of Archbishop Justin Welby. There is enough Doom and Gloom on our TV news screens without the readings from St Mark (ch13. vs 1 – 6) and the Prophet Daniel (ch12. vs 1 – 3).By contrast, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews urges us to hold fast to our hope in Christ. Christ who has perfected (us) for all time. To hold fast in faith as we face the storms of life referred to by Daniel and St Mark.This perfection in which we are held because of our faith, applies not only to us with all our imperfections, but also to former Archbishop Justin Welby with all of his imperfections.At the end of the week in which he resigned as Archbishop, the church had already scheduled Today as “Safeguarding Sunday”. The irony should not be lost on any of us.The resignation was over a failure in the handling of complaints around a breach of safeguarding, which if handled pro-actively back in 2013 would have prevented the perpetrator from continuing his abusive activities.The person concerned was in the habit of using his leadership position to identify possible victims for his abusive activity. Such an abuse on individuals who had trusted that they would be safe is bad enough. But there is another level of abuse to consider here. Such a breach of trust is also an abuse of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and by extension abuse of all of us here who have based our way of life in the faith that by his resurrection Jesus Christ brings the hope of New life; in the eyes of the public, the media, and the enemies of Christianity our Christian way of life is devalued. The finger of suspicion is pointed at us – you and me.The safeguarding protocols put in place by the Church of England are an important tool for ensuring the safety of potential victims from abusive individuals - safety of the intended victims, and safety for the honour of the gospel and our way of life in Christ. We have a duty to comply.Justin Welby has struggled to deal appropriately with issues of historic abuse by a vile few in the church who have over the years been allowed without censure to take advantage of vulnerable children and adults. These imperfections of leadership have become overwhelming to his ministry as Archbishop, so he has rightly chosen to step back from the role.However, we cannot doubt his faith. He is as able as we are to take comfort from the letter to the Hebrews as he hears it read at worship this morning. Hold fast to the confession of hope in Jesus Christ.He has to continue to live with his imperfections as indeed we ourselves have to live with our own imperfections. This is a deeply painful time. None of us hold such a public role as he did, so we are spared the glare of publicity that Justin Welby is now facing. This does not mean that we are spared from the same pain from living imperfectly each day whilst continuing our own attempt to live the Christian life. The media trumpeting that the church is still not a place people can trust to do all the right things when it comes to keeping people safe, is a lesson to us all about the importance of safeguarding in our church community. If you become aware of someone taking advantage of their position in church life then it is important that you bring it to the attention of those who work on your behalf to deal with safeguarding matters:Children and young people Constance TyceAdults Father Andrew LaneFor the safety of people around us, and for the honour of the gospel and our Christian way of life, it is important to be vigilant and report any suspicion of abusive behaviour.As we pray for ourselves in this endeavour, it will be important to pray for Justin Welby at this difficult moment in his ministry. His very public failing is no worse than any of our own very private failings.We must remain vigilant; we must ensure people in church life are safe from abuse, we must protect our gospel from dishonour, we must hold fast to the confession of our hope whatever life throws at us. For our hope is in the new life of resurrection; life that is valued in the Kingdom of God.“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, without wavering, for (God) who has promised, is faithful”.Amen.The Revd Canon Malcolm France
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.‘Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” ’ (Psalm 16:1-2)Hymn: Thou, Whose Almighty Word...Daniel 12:1-3; Hebrews 10: 11-14, 19-25‘God is love, and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them.’ 1 John 4:16 Let us pray: 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: Heavenly Lord, you long for the world’s salvation: stir us from apathy,restrain us from excess and revive in us new hope that all creation will one day be healedin Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Mark 13: 1-8Please see the message from the minister.Let us join in prayer and ask for God’s empowering love to impact: the Church, that all may know and serve the Lord, to give our all in his good service; the world, that peace will reign and that all people will care and share; our neighbours, families and friends, that relationships will thrive; people who are sick or suffering, for the healing power of the Holy Spirit to be known; those who have been bereaved, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray for the coming of God’s kingdom in the prayer that Jesus taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.Hymn: O Perfect Love...May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all for evermore. Amen.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
If you walk into almost any town or village in the country, you will find a war memorial. Often it is a stone block that stands as a testimony to the young men of the area who died in war. Every year at Remembrance we hear numbers and names. We might think on the stories behind those names – men with families, friends, hopes, dreams and all of them with lives cut short.I’d like to tell you one such story. It is the story of a Seargent, who served in a border guard at a military checkpoint. A family man who was popular with his men. In the middle of the night on a cold and snowy February, on duty with five others, he looked across the checkpoint to see soldiers. An army advancing towards them.Six men against an entire army. The Seargent ordered the five men with him to retreat as quickly and as quietly as they could, whilst he alone went to their only defensive position. A machine gun placed inside an old railway carriage. In the next few moments, seeing him moving towards the gun, the advancing army opened fire, killing the Seargent. His order to retreat, and his movement towards the gun caused the advancing army to slow down. His actions enabled his comrades to reach safety. His body was found riddled with bullet holes.The Seargent left behind his wife, an eight-year-old son, and a one-year-old daughter.He was only thirty-six.This story sounds like that of so many others that we might hear at Remembrance Sunday, but this story is far more recent. The Seargent’s name was Denys, and he was most likely the first soldier in Ukraine to be killed when Vladimir Putin ordered his invasion. The first casualty in a war that has killed so many already. A war that will kill more people today and more people tomorrow.War is sadly all too common in the world today.When the First World War was fought it was called ‘The war to end all wars.’ The hope people had was that this war, which was so costly, so horrific and so hard to understand the causes of would lead to a change in humanity. Something good had to be destined to come from something as unimaginably awful as the trenches, the mud, the shells and the slaughter.Perhaps like me you wonder how the lessons from it were forgotten so soon.Yet in so many of the years since, war has been far away. We have grown accustomed to war and conflict as being something that happens over there. Korea, the Falklands, Afghanistan, and Iraq were all taking place a long way from home. It was easy to forget about them. It was easy to forget about the impact of war on our armed forces personnel and civilians from another land.It is too easy to switch off our televisions. Too easy to hide things that we don’t want to see on our social media. Too easy to give in to our fatigue of war and of bad news and turn the page.But for the people of Ukraine, indeed for the people of Israel and Palestine, for the people of Yemen and Syria and so many other countries war is a daily horror. The Christian population of Gaza, often sheltering together in the rubble of their churches have spoken movingly about their sense of Christ’s love for them being their only source of hope amidst the devastation.When Jesus gave His commandment to us to “love one another” he didn’t leave a restriction. He didn’t tell us to love this group over here but not those people over there. Christ’s love is God’s love for all people. God’s love is for all of those men who died in Flanders fields. God’s love is for the men and women who died all over the world in the 1940s.God’s love is love for the people of Gaza sheltering and starving as bombs fall around them.God’s love is for the Israeli families longing for the return of stolen loved ones.God’s love is for the Ukrainian refugees in foreign lands.God’s love is for the people of Russia enduring oppression and fear.God’s love is for them and for you.It is through God’s love for us that we can hope for the future. Whilst now may be the time to mourn, the time to weep and the time to keep silence in remembrance. Tomorrow may yet be the time to heal, the time to build up and the time to speak out.Tomorrow may yet be the time for peace.Amen.Rev. Iain GrantAssistant Curate, Sheringham St Peter
