Readings: Amos 5v6-7&10-15; Psalm 90v12-end; Hebrews 4v12-16; Mark 10v17-31Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. AmenA Word : Today on the occasion of our Harvest Festival Celebrations, we join a long and ancient tradition of giving thanks for the Harvest that pre-dates Christianity. For, the people of Israel, God’s very own chosen people, had a major festival called Sukkot that was celebrated in the Autumn, when they: gathered the crops from the fields and the fruits of the orchards; and remembered their time living in the desert for 40 years, after their rescue from slavery in Egypt, before entering the promised land. An early Christian celebration of Harvest, was the custom that took place in early August (at the beginning of the harvest). In this tradition, the basis of the tradition was the idea of giving God our “first fruits”, and some of the first crops were used to make a loaf that was brought to the Church for use in the service named the “loaf mass”, or Lammas. Today, Loaf Mass continues to be a Christian holy day, but after the reformation, the tradition was discontinued by the Church of England. The modern day Harvest Festival was re-introduced into the Church when the Reverend Robert Hawker invited his Cornish parishioners to a special thanksgiving service for the harvest, at his church in Morwenstow, in 1843. From this grew the tradition of singing Harvest hymns and the custom of decorating churches with home-grown produce for the service.Today in the Church of England, Harvest festivals are celebrated across a number of dates, because unlike Canada and the USA, the UK does not have a national holiday for Harvest Festival. This means that some Churches celebrate in September, on the Sunday nearest the Feast of Michaelmas, when people gather for a community meal called a Harvest Supper. Others celebrate on the Sunday nearest the time of the Harvest Moon, which occurs in late September or early October. Yet others, like us, have a home-grown tradition of celebrating in October. However, whatever date this celebration takes place, and whatever the origin of the current tradition is, Harvest Festival is: a time to give thanks for the food grown on the land; it is a reminder of all the good things that God gives to us; and it is a time to take stock of how we can help and support others with the gifts we have received.Today as we take stock of what we have and how we can help and support others, I pray that we will all take some sort of Harvest Thanksgiving action. Here are a few of my own ideas:- Maybe making a gift offering of food to neighbours or food banks or schools;- Maybe giving time to make a covid secure visit to those who are lonely;- Maybe being open to give time to listen, without judgement, to those who need to talk;- Maybe using our God given skills and abilities to help someone who needs them.For, I believe that God is calling each of us to share some of what we have for the benefit of others. And, whatever you are thinking of, whether it is much or little, if we dare to share, then I also believe that we begin the journey that Jesus called the young rich man to in the gospel, of giving to those in need and following Jesus. And, as we heard in the psalm, God will prosper the work of our hands.Let us pray:Go before us O Lord, as we endeavour to worship you in spirit and truth, and lift up our hearts that we may serve you fittingly, as you desire.Lords’ prayer: 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. AmenThe Grace: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now and evermore. AMENThank you for joining us today.
15th after Trinity Readings: Amos 6v1a & 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6v6-19; Luke 16v19-end. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: In the readings today we hear the call to take a careful look at how we are living our lives and how the way we live can affect others. The psalm for today tells us that we have a God who made heaven and earth. A God who is worthy of praise. A God who is concerned about the whole of creation. For God loves the righteous and wants them to make a difference in the world by: feeding the hungry; bringing justice to the mistreated; making provision for those who are in prison; supporting the blind and caring for refugees, orphans and widows. These are all things we can all play our part in whether that is in big ways or little ways. Maybe by giving to the food bank, or by standing up for children and adults who are being mistreated, or by praying for prisoners, or by donating to charities that help the blind, orphans, widows and refugees from war torn places. This is something that I believe we need to pay heed to because, as we hear in the Book of Amos, God said that the idle rich would be the first to go into exile. For this was God’s judgement on the people who had not listened to his messenger Amos. The people who continued to take advantage of others, In the gospel of Luke we hear a similar warning in the story that Jesus is telling. For after they died, the poor man went to heaven and the rich man went to hades. However, this is not a story that means everyone who is rich will go to hades. It is more of a story about our attitudes and actions. For the rich man never thought to try and help the poor man Lazarus in life. And, even in death the rich man has not learnt his lesson, for instead of being sorry for how he treated Lazarus in life, he now has the cheek to expect Abraham to send the poor man over into hades to serve him. Then, even after he is told that this was not possible, the rich man thinks it is okay to tell Abraham to send the poor man to warn his brothers. However, in reply Abraham reminds that if we do not listen to and live as we are told to in the scriptures, then we will not be convinced even if we are visited by someone who has risen from the dead. I believe that this story reminds us that we need to live as God instructs and to use all that we are and all that we have, to serve Him. And, even if we have made mistakes up to now, we have the opportunity to stop and turn to Godly ways. In the letter to Timothy, Paul tells us that we must learn to be content in life and not chase after money. For even though we need money to survive, the pursuit of money at all costs will eventually trap us into acting in ungodly ways. As an alternative to this, Paul encourages us to do good works, to live generously and always be ready to share what we have. Paul describes this as “fighting the good fight” and includes living lives of: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. And what is really important about this is that it is not only a better way of living for the benefit of all people but also the way that leads to eternal life. Let us Pray: Generous and merciful God, pour your holy spirit on your church. We ask you to keep us focussed on being your people by being true to the gospel, committed to each other and active in your service. Guide us away from all things that hurt and damage us and lead us towards all things helpful for our salvation. Amen Thanks for joining us today.
Michael and All Angels Readings: Genesis 28v10-17; Psalm 1031v19-end; Hebrews 1v5-end; John 1v47-end. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: As we celebrate the feast of St Michael and all Angels, I thought we should take time to think about angels. Now, I am not sure what you already know about angels, but the word angel simply means God’s messenger. This messenger may be ordinary – a person just like you or me – sent with a message from God. Or it may be a messenger sent from the spiritual realm such as the God’s great and obedient arch-angels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. According to the psalm. these heavenly beings of the Lord are mighty creatures who exist to do God’s bidding, as well as to bless God whose throne is in heaven. And, as the writer declares in the letter to the Hebrews, the God of heaven and earth who sent his son into the world – has angels who work in the service of God, spirits who worship the Lord’s son and who are sent out into the natural world to serve each and every person who will inherit salvation. We see God’s angels at work in the reading from the Book of Genesis, an account sometimes referred to as “Jacob’s ladder”. For whilst Jacob slept, God drew close to him and communicated to him through a dream. In the dream, Jacob saw a staircase full of angels between heaven and earth. Then, God spoke to Jacob, promising to be with him and all the families of the earth wheresoever they may go – and promising never to leave them until all of God’s promises had been fulfilled. Later, when Jacob woke up, Jacob knew that he had been visited by God and that the place he was in was what we now call “a thin place”, places on earth where heaven can be felt. Then, in the gospel we hear an echo of Jacob’s ladder in the account of what happens between Jesus and Nathanael. For after Nathanael questions how Jesus knows him – Jesus describes something that Nathanael recognises as so profound – that he knows without doubt that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus then goes on to prophesy that Nathanael will see the heavens open and angels ascending and descending as they attend to him. Scripture tells us that here and now in our time, there are angels all around us in the heavenly realm. Some of them have duties that include looking out for us as our guardian angels and when we gather to worship God we join with the whole of heaven in worshipping God most high. Imagine that! Let us pray: Everlasting God, Lord of heaven, you created a wonderful order of your holy angels who serve you in heaven and your mortal beings who serve you here on earth. Help us to know that when we gather in worship that we join with the whole company of heaven, of innumerable angels and the spirits of the saints made perfect. Lord send your holy angels to help and defend us as we make our earthly pilgrimage until we come to share in your joy in heaven. Amen Thank you for joining us.
14th after Trinity Readings: Amos 8v4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2v1-7; Luke 16v1-13. Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. A Word: In Amos we hear that the Lord knows and will never forget the deeds of the wicked who crush the needy and destroy the poor. In the psalm we hear that the Lord is worthy of praise because even though our Lord is high above the heavens, He watches over the poor and the needy and the desperate. I believe that these readings are a warning to us here as we deal with the problem we meet who are sleeping rough. For we should be asking how and why the world has come to this. Why is there nowhere for those without rooves over their heads to live? We also need to be careful as we try to connect and help those we find living outdoors, because we may be making matters worse. As a general rule we should not be offering money but things we can do include: being polite, donating to homeless support charities, passing on contact details for organisations who can help the homeless, sharing a sandwich or a drink. helpful and consistent because God is watching what we do and will not forget how we treat others. In Timothy, we hear that Paul calls us to be a people of prayer. A people who pray all kinds of prayers, prayers said for all sorts of people, and especially prayers for those in power asking for them to enable us to live peaceable lives. Paul also reminds Timothy that we have a God who wants everyone to be saved and Paul is certain that the only mediator for this is Jesus, because Jesus gave himself as a ransom for us all. I believe that this letter is a call for us to turn to God and pray about everything. For those we love and care for, for those who God is calling to be saved, for those in need and the poor, for guidance on what God wants us to do to make a difference in the world, and for those in local, national and worldwide power to do God’s bidding to them in the world. For God hears and takes our prayers and does with them God’s will. In Luke we hear Jesus teaching about taking care how we live our lives because it is too easy to go wrong by focusing on things that divert us from God. I believe that this is a call to stop and take stock of how we are living our lives. Maybe we will find we are on track, but maybe we will find we need to make some changes. Whatever we find, whether we are living lives focussed on God or lives in need of change of some sort, it is good to stop and check every so often. For when we take the time to stop and check we are more likely to keep our lives in line with God’s bidding. So today, as we think about how we treat the poor and needy, as we pray for all manner of things, and as we take stock of how we live our lives – we do all this to grow closer to being God’s people in the world. Let us Pray: Almighty God, the source of truth and love, whose only Son opened up the way for us to enter into your presence. Give us hearts and desire to worship you. Keep us faithful to the apostles teaching. Draw us into committed and lifelong community with other believers. For the sake of Jesus who died for us. Amen Thanks for joining us today.
