Dear friends,It’s with great pleasure and many blessings that I’m able to formally welcome Jackie Newton to our parishes as our new Licenced Lay Minister (LLM / Reader)! We had a wonderful service at York Minster last Saturday, where Jackie was inducted, licenced and welcomed into her new role in Middle Esk Moor. Some photos from the day in York are attached.A copy of the sermon that Jackie preached last Sunday is included below the photos, and copies of the readings for this week can be downloaded at this link. Jackie’s sermon is all about ‘The Call to Serve’ that each of us has in God’s Church.I’ll write again soon with more news from our churches across Middle Esk Moor. In the meantime, go well and take care.With love and blessings,Reverend AnthonySermon for 15th SeptemberJackie Newton - ‘The Call to Serve’Take my words and speak through them, take our ears and hear through them, take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you. Amen.Well, I suppose I could start with stating the obvious that I am finally licenced, however, post licencing doesn’t mean that the learning stops, far from it, it means that it takes a new form, and I certainly know that I still have a lot to learn. But most importantly, I am learning from an amazing group of people sat here in front of me. I have learnt and seen how a challenge is accepted.It seems as though the last couple of weeks have been rather hectic for me and I’m sure most of our church family. A couple of weeks ago we had our Advisory Council meeting at The Vicarage where we all joined together to discuss our progress on various issues for our churches. This was followed on the Saturday when some of us met at Wydale for a meeting of Revitalise. That was focused on Mission, and it was a very interesting talk and day.Today’s sermon, or talk, has been composed by myself and a colleague I did my training with. We had to do a talk about service: service to God, and service to others. I wondered if I could use that as a theme for today’s service.Let us start with the words from the prophet Jeremiah:For surely, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,These verses remind us that God has a purpose for each of us, a purpose filled with hope and promise. However, this divine purpose is not meant to be fulfilled in isolation. The plans God has for us are intertwined with our dealings and relationships with others. Our service to others is a vital expression of the hope and future God promises.When we serve others, we are living out the hope God has instilled in us. We become instruments of His love and channels of His blessings. Service is not merely a response to a need; it is a way of aligning ourselves with the divine plan that God has for our lives.When I first came here I was taken by the way you work together. When a challenge is set, someone is prepared to accept it. But you work together, each person’s thoughts are respected and thought through, each church I have gone to there seems to be someone prepared to step in to help. I think my first encounter was with the large Benefice Banner that is moved around each church, the first part of a morning it was at Glaisdale then next thing, as if by magic, it had appeared at Egton. I was listening to how people had done a job, but they had done it with a sense of pride and humility for the Church. There are so many things I have had pointed out. A phone call and what may be a problem seems to get sorted.In our Epistle reading, Jesus speaks about the final judgment, where nations are separated as sheep from goats. He says:“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”This passage emphasises that our service to others is a direct reflection of our service to Christ Himself. The King’s response to those who have served the needy highlights that acts of kindness and compassion are not only acts of social responsibility but acts of worship and love for God. In serving those in need, we are indeed serving Christ.I am bowled over by the selflessness of people who give lifts to the services, but you do not just go around the corner you are travelling miles to do so, to ensure that no one will miss out on their worship. Or, perhaps to some, so they will not miss out on their friendship and talk.Finally, let us turn to the Gospel of John, where we find Jesus washing His disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.Jesus, in His act of humble service, provides us with the ultimate example of what it means to serve. Despite His position of authority and power, He chose to take on the role of a servant, demonstrating that true leadership in the Kingdom of God is characterised by humility and service. His act of washing the disciples’ feet was not merely a gesture of hospitality, but a profound teaching about the nature of Christian leadership and discipleship.As we think about these readings, we see a common thread: our service to others is a central element of our faith journey. Jeremiah reminds us that serving others aligns us with God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Matthew highlights that our acts of service are ultimately service to Christ Himself. John reveals that Jesus, our Lord and Teacher, calls us to follow His example of humility and service.In our daily lives, let us focus on these teachings. Let us be vigilant in serving those around us with compassion and grace, knowing that in doing so, we fulfil our divine purpose, honour Christ, and walk in the footsteps of our Saviour.May we find joy in serving others and be blessed as we do so. For, in service, we reflect the love and grace of our Lord.I think I will finish with that all theological whatever and just say, well, after a day at Wydale discussing all things Revitalise, I think as a Benefice there is so much to be proud of. Am I allowed to say we did an awful lot of bragging about our Celtic Communion Service? Perhaps not the right term, but I described it as a ‘banger’ of a service, and how it has drawn people in. It is involving people in the worship more interactively. And there’s the beautiful Taizé and the feedback from that, one comment being, “I felt in a safe place where I was able to pray for my loved ones out loud, something I had never been able to do before”.We have Vi’s Café at Grosmont where, in the short time I have been going, I have met and chatted with so many people, and learnt stories of their lives. Some proud moments have been shared as well as moments where people just wanted to share a memory of a loved one. Prayers have been shared.People have opened their homes to share worship and songs of joy; some deep reflection has gone on.You are welcoming new people into the Churches like old friends. The word of Welcome is used, the one word with so much meaning and power.There may be still a lot of hard work to be done, but you know that it will be done.We have three things on our side I suppose:Number one must be the Lord.Number 2 - well, we had better give Reverend Anthony some credit for the amazing work, what words have I heard spoken even on my first visit here: caring, loving, patient, humble; he is greatly loved.I’ll stop there or we will need a faculty to raise the roof!Oh, the third thing, well, that must be yourselves.Amen.---Jackie Newton, LLMmiddleESKmoor.orgEnriching, Sharing, KnowingBible 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.
Dear friends,Here’s a copy of my sermon from this morning. It describes quite a life changing moment on my journey into ministry. I hope you find it useful. Copies of the lectionary readings for today can be downloaded at this link.I’ll write again later in the week for more news from Middle Esk Moor. In the meantime, go well and take care.With love and blessings,Reverend AnthonySermon for 8th SeptemberDo we take miracles for granted?'I’d like to focus in on verse 37 of our Gospel reading this week:"Jesus has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."That verse has quite a lot of resonance for me. You’ll all probably be aware that I have a bit of a stammer - sometimes it’s a lot worse than other times. Just over 14 years ago I had quite a persistent thought that it would be wonderful to be able to read the Bible in church or lead intercessions, but I was too embarrassed because of my stammer being so bad - I thought I wouldn’t be able to get the words out. After embarking on six months of speech therapy at Ilkley Hospital some progress had been made but I was still pretty scared. So, I spoke to Nigel Wright, who was our Priest over in Oxenhope at the time. He encouraged me to have a go at writing and leading intercessions. He said to take it slow and ask the Holy Spirit for help continuously and to read through calmly line by line.So, I did. Slowly and carefully. And it was quite amazing: I managed to read the whole of the intercessions through perfectly without any stammering at all. The congregation there, knowing me quite well, were absolutely amazed! It was quite an experience, and one of those ones that encouraged me on my journey into ministry.Well, here I am today. My stammer is still there; it comes out at unexpected times. Usually on words beginning with ‘f’ or ‘g’. But if I remember to ask the Holy Spirit for help then it’s not so big a problem at all. The Holy Spirit reassures me that everything will be fine. And it’s certainly not embarrassing or scary any more.A miracle? An answer to prayer? A life changing experience? Yes, to all those! But not just one miracle, an ongoing miracle: I need to remember to ask the Holy Spirit for help every time I speak in public.There are lots of ongoing miracles in our lives aren’t there? The fact that we’re all here today, comprised of 70% water plus various chemicals and molecules, but we all exist in our uniqueness, and we can all participate in our worship of God together – that’s an amazing ongoing miracle! God’s ongoing miracles sustain our lives. But I wonder, do we take that ongoing miracle of our existence for granted? Do we take the way we interact with the world around us for granted? Do we take our five senses for granted? Can we remember what it was like when we were very young, learning to talk, to listen, to touch, to smell, to see and recognise our parents?God's ongoing miracles extend into our scientific age to help those more permanently physically disabled by loss or degradation of their senses. For example, there are now cochlear implants which allow some deaf people to hear through a series of electronic impulses. And there are possibilities that one day retina implants will enable those blind from birth to see, even if only for a short time: time to see their loved ones' faces and some of the wonders of the world they have only heard about. God's ongoing miracles are all around us: gifts that delight us and guide us towards a greater understanding of God’s creative love. Those ongoing miracles, I think, reassure us. And then that reassurance releases us to become more fully the people God made us to be, whether or not our bodies or minds are physically complete. The reassurance I receive about my stammer has freed me up to get more involved in the Church. I still have the stammer but maybe now I’m a bit more fully the person God made me to be?During Jesus' ministry the miracles he performed always pointed beyond themselves. At a straightforward level Jesus healed; not just by what he said but by what he did.Jesus wasn’t afraid to touch people. In our Gospel reading we heard that Jesus put his fingers in the man's ears, touching his tongue with his own spittle. Jesus gives of himself, physically. He gives his time too: his concentration and his energy. As a result, the man discovers the amazing freedom of hearing and speech. But at another level Jesus illustrates his mission to free the hearing and speech of all who listen to him. That’s all people, including us today, whether or not we experience any forms of physical disability. It’s only when we hear Jesus clearly that we can live out his commandments and proclaim the truth of his message. And many people throughout our world find that they’ve been disabled by poverty or persecution or racial discrimination against those we might perceive as outsiders or foreigners, just like the Syrophoenician woman in our reading, who was alien to Jewish culture. But it was this woman who recognised Jesus' true status. When she challenges Jesus with her depth of faith, we’re reminded that Jesus’ ministry was for all people.Both the Syrophoenician woman and the deaf man were completely open and vulnerable to Jesus. Unlike the cynical, well-informed Pharisees, the Syrophoenician woman and the deaf man did not presume they had the answers to life's questions. And I wonder sometimes whether we’re hampered by the complex knowledge we have; our constant striving to try and understand everything about ourselves and the world around us: that quest for complex knowledge can blind and mute us. True wisdom is, I think, about being conscious of the things we do not know and remaining open to being taught what we need to know by God. And God works hard to clarify our hearing and our sight, our understanding and our insight; with or without perfect physical senses we can still hear God's truth. And we can still play our part in ensuring God's will is done in earth as it is in heaven.Deafness and blindness are not necessarily physical conditions. The scribes were deaf to the full meaning of Jesus' teaching but they heard his words perfectly. And some of Jesus' disciples were blind to the events unfolding around them, events which might seem obvious to us today with the benefit of the whole story in our Bibles. I wonder if we’re more likely to develop our sense of God, and his working through us, if we can recognise how deaf to his word we can be?Maybe part of discerning our calling is to do with recognising that we don’t have all the answers, all the complex knowledge? If we believe we have all the answers, a monopoly of the truth, is there a danger that we reinforce our blindness and our inability to hear?Jesus can only release us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, just as he released the deaf man in our reading; he can only release us when we’re open and vulnerable to God. And Jesus can only release us, through the work of the Holy Spirit, when we recognise that we don’t know everything. Jesus tells us that to love God well we must become like little children; not childish, but childlike. With their ability to trust implicitly, children listen with open ears and see with an unclouded vision.And when we recognise our poverty, our littleness and our need for God, The Holy Spirit can work in us: to heal us in all our disabilities, to include us despite our differences, to teach us what we need to know so we can continuously listen out and discern our calling in this world. These gifts of discernment are available to all those who ask for them. These gifts are some of those ongoing miracles we see every day. I think this is how the kingdom of God is extended upon the earth - by disciples like us being attentive and listening out for the Holy Spirit to speak to us through all those ongoing miracles.We just need to ask for help; to ask for that reassurance we need to release us to become more fully the people God made us to be, whether or not our bodies or minds are physically complete or not.Amen.---The Reverend Anthony BennettmiddleESKmoor.orgEnriching, Sharing, KnowingBible 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.
Dear friends,Having had a wonderful holiday in North Wales, I’m back but still playing catch up. If you’ve sent me an email I will reply soon. Just sending this short news update.Normal service will hopefully be resumed soon!If there’s anything we can help you with please email welcome@middleESKmoor.org and someone will be in touch.Looking forwards to catching up with some of you tomorrow at our services in Lealholm and Glaisdale.With love and blessings,Reverend AnthonyComing up this weekTomorrow - Sunday 8 September9:00 am Traditional Communion in Lealholm at St James'10:45 am Celtic Communion in Glaisdale at St Thomas’Tuesday 10 September6:30 pm Sharing Space - please contact us for location informationWednesday 11 September8:30 am Contemplative Communion in Goathland - please contact us for location informationThursday 12 September10:30 am - 2:30 pm Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew'sJackie’s LicensingSaturday 14 SeptemberWe’re absolutely delighted to confirm that Jackie Newton will be licensed as a Licenced Lay Minister (Reader) to our Middle Esk Moor parishes on Saturday 14th September at York Minster. The service will start at 10:30 am.If you would like to come to York Minster next week, to welcome Jackie into her new ministry, and to celebrate this exciting time in Jackie’s journey and our development across Middle Esk Moor, please email welcome@middleESKmoor.org.We have one space left on the minibus that Roger Everitt has very kindly arranged to drive for us. But you’re free to make your own way to York if you want to. Other lifts might be available.On Sunday 15th there will be refreshments and celebrations after both our services, 9.00 am in Lealholm, and 10.45 am in Egton. If you can help with those celebrations, and maybe bake a cake for one of them, please get in touch with Reverend Anthony.---The Reverend Anthony BennettmiddleESKmoor.orgEnriching, Sharing, Knowing
Dear friends,Welcome to my news update for this week, which includes:- Follow up from the Joint Parishes Meeting - Please respond.- Coming up this week and later this month.- Weddings in Middle Esk Moor - We need some help!- Want to help with Holy Communion?- The sermon that wasn’t preached last Sunday!I’m taking a break from next weekend for two weeks, heading to Betws-y-Coed with the family for a much needed holiday. This newsletter will be taking a break too - the next one will hopefully be ready in the first week of September.If there’s anything we can help you with please email welcome@middleESKmoor.org and someone will be in touch.Looking forwards to the week ahead.With love and blessings,Reverend AnthonyFollow up on Joint Parishes Meeting - Please respondAt our first joint meeting of our four parishes on 20 July we built on all the energy we’ve created and hard work we have done over the last year to develop twelve key priorities to take forwards over the next three 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 welcome@middleESKmoor.org 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 within the next 24 hours and add your availability for any of the possible dates shown.Coming up this week and later this monthSunday 11 August9:00 am Traditional Communion in Lealholm at St James'10:45 am Celtic Communion in Glaisdale at St Thomas’Monday 12 August12:00 pm 'Team Transition' Event at Egton Village HallTuesday 13 August6:30 pm Sharing Space - please contact us for location information.Wednesday 14 August8:30 am Contemplative Communion in Goathland - please contact us for location informationThursday 15 August10:30 am - 2:30 pm Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew'sSunday 18 August9:00 am Morning Worship in Lealholm at St James'10:45 am Traditional Holy Communion in Egton at St HildaThursday 22 August10:30 am - 2:30 pm Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew'sSunday 25 August9:00 am Traditional Holy Communion in Lealholm at St James'10:45 am Traditional Holy Communion in Grosmont at St Matthew's7:00 pm Taizé in Glaisdale at St Thomas’Thursday 29 August10:30 am - 2:30 pm Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew'sSunday 1 September9:00 am Morning Worship in Lealholm at St James'10:45 am Traditional Holy Communion in Goathland at St Mary's4:00 pm Fellowship Space with Helen and Chris at The Hollin's Institute in GrosmontWednesday 4 September8:30 am Contemplative Communion in Goathland - please contact us for location information5:00 pm Deanery Evening Prayer on Zoom and at St Hilda, EgtonThursday 5 September10:30 am - 2:30 pm Vi's Community Cafe in Grosmont at St Matthew'sSaturday 7 September10:00 am 'Revitalise' Learning Community Day at Wydale Hall - please contact us for further information12:30 pm Wedding with Reverend Steve Foster in Goathland at St Mary's1:00 pm Wedding with Reverend Anthony in Egton at St Hilda’sWeddings in Middle Esk Moor - We need some help!We have weddings coming up on every Saturday in September, starting with the two above, plus 5 October and 7 December, and we are in need of vergers and bell ringers (for our amazing bells in Goathland and Egton). Training will be given if you can help with either role. Please email welcome@middleESKmoor.org if you can help. Many thanks.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, our (almost) new Licenced Lay Minister, is helping to run a special training session for our parishes and those in Lower Esk and Robin Hood’s Bay:at Aislaby Church (St Margaret’s)on Saturday 17 August, 10:30 to midday.If you’re available and would like to go, please email Jackie Newton as soon as possible.The sermon that wasn’t preached last Sunday!This is the sermon Reverend Anthony was planning to preach last week in Lealholm and Goathland but he ended up doing something completely different instead! Anyhow, we hope the following is interesting and of use to you. The readings for last Sunday can be viewed here.“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’d like to focus on the end of our passage today: "Whoever comes to me will never be hungry."The passage follows on from the feeding of the five thousand. There has been a concern with physical hunger. But now we see a shift in John’s Gospel. But before we think about that, perhaps some of you might have seen the film The Shawshank Redemption? Set in an American prison, it deals with themes of redemption and hope and what it means to be free. At one point in the film, the character, Red, describes what it means to be institutionalised: "These walls are funny,” he says.“First you hate them, then you get used to them, and then you depend on them; that's institutionalised." When Red is finally released, he finds, as he feared, that freedom can be unnerving and cruel. His mind is so shaped by the years of imprisonment that it’s difficult for him to act as a free man. He even considers reoffending to get back to the relative security of institutional life. Red finds that even when his body is free, his mind is telling him that he’s still in prison.Freedom, redemption and hope are also at the heart of Jesus’ message. But I guess it’s no less tricky for us to understand what it is to be free than it was for Red in The Shawshank Redemption. There are many things that oppress and imprison us. Perhaps the thing that represents our captivity most completely is our need for food and drink. Even if we’re not held behind bars, or made to work as slaves, we can never be free from the fact that before we do anything else, we need to make sure that we and our families have enough to eat.So when Jesus announces himself to be the bread of life, he strikes right at the heart of that which holds us captive as human beings. Jesus declares that the bottom line of our existence is not our need for food and drink, but our need for Him. This was a daring statement to make, and, not surprisingly, it was followed by cries of protest: who on earth was this, to say such outrageous things? In the verses following our reading, we learn that even those who had supported Jesus began to drift away. John crafts his Gospel to help his readers see who Jesus is, and to put our faith in him; but doing that is never going to be an easy decision.Through faith in Jesus we have unimaginable gifts, but they’re not always easy gifts to receive. For starters, even the most committed believers still have to feed themselves. We’re all still captive to our human needs; they still shape how we think and act. So what kind of freedom is it that we have through Jesus? Is it a spiritual freedom that exists despite our physical and mental constraints? Or is it a freedom that comes into effect only when we’re finally free of our earthly bodies after we die? Well, I think it’s both those things, but even more. A freedom that exists only in a spiritual realm does not have the completeness of the kind of freedom Jesus brings. When Jesus declares himself to be the bread of life, he’s effectively saying that his freedom operates at the heart of our everyday lives; at the heart of what it means to be human. It’s a freedom that changes how we live in the here and now, and not just one that exists on a spiritual level, or just in the hereafter.As Christians, I guess we all know what it’s like to struggle with the contradiction of our human constraints and our spiritual freedom. It may be that we are amply provided with food and drink; but we all know what it means to have to pay bills on time. And as Red found in The Shawshank Redemption, years of captivity shape our minds. The trick is not just to live differently, but to think differently. And for Christians, the means to achieve this is to feed on the bread of life. Jesus has set us free; he has opened the prison doors. In this world we can live as if we are free, or we can live as if we are captive. Let's pray that we may find the courage to feed on Jesus, and in doing so be truly free, even in the midst of the captivity of the day-to-day constraints of our everyday lives.Amen.”---The Reverend Anthony BennettmiddleESKmoor.orgEnriching, Sharing, KnowingBible 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.
