2nd Sunday After TrinityReadings: Genesis 3v8-15; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 4v13-5v1; Mark 3v20-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 reading from Genesis, we hear the first man and his wife talking with God in the Garden of Eden. This conversation took place just after the serpent had tricked the man and the woman into eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. Eating the fruit made both of them notice things they had never seen before, including realising that they were naked. So, when they heard God strolling in the garden, they hid themselves from God. However, when God questioned them about their knowledge and how they had come by it, the man blamed his disobedience on the woman; whereas the woman owned up and said that she had eaten it after being tempted by the serpent. In response, God dresses them in strong clothing, before turning them and the serpent out of Eden. This account is called “The Fall”. It was an account that was known by the religious scholars of Jesus’ time and an account that tells us that in this life Satan is always on the lookout for ways to trip us up and take us away from God. This account was so well known in Jesus time that as we hear in Mark’s gospel, when Jesus returned home and a crowd gathered around making demands on him, Jesus’ opponents spread false rumours about the origin of Jesus’ spiritual powers. For they accused him of using Satan’s powers. But Jesus confronted this slander using a wise story, making clear that it made no sense to accuse him of using Satan’s powers to defeat Satan. Jesus also warned that what they were saying was slandering God and risking cutting themselves off from the very one who could save them. An important warning for all of us.However, this account is not just about being warned – for it is also about a promise. For while all this was happening, Jesus family and friends came to rescue him from both the crowds and those trying to discredit him. But, instead of getting up and going with his family when they arrived, Jesus used their arrival to explain that everyone who obeys God is his family. As we listen to what Jesus says in the gospel, we hear that we are part of his family when we choose to obey God. This is a choice we have to make for ourselves, for as Paul tells the people of Corinth in his 2nd letter to them, we have a God who raised Jesus back to life, a God who is pouring out his grace into the world, during the good times and the bad; a God who one day will raise his people back to life and give them new bodies that will last forever. For as the psalm tells us, we have a God that we can ask for help and mercy. For God is a God of forgiveness, a God who prefers to wipe away the record of all of our wrongdoing. A God who brings love and redemption, to redeem his people and buy them back from captivity to sin. A God who is well worth living our whole lives for as we listen to, watch for and wait upon God’s arrival.Today, I hope and pray that we all seek the true meaning in the words of the Bible, and see that from the beginning that God was, is and will always be there to help us, especially when we make mistakes and sin. I hope you choose to put your faith in the God who made his first people strong clothes, even whilst he was throwing them out of Eden. The God who down the ages has kept his word to forgive us and redeem us from our sins. The God who the New Testament tells us raised Jesus back to life. The Jesus who tells us that all people who obey God are his family.Let us pray: Day by day dear Lord, of you three things we pray: to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly and to follow you more nearly, day by day. AmenThank you for joining us.
1st Sunday After Trinity Readings: Deuteronomy 5v12-15; Psalm 81v1-10; 2 Corinthians 4v5-12; Mark 2v23-3v6. 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 reading from Deuteronomy we hear Moses teaching the people of Israel. God commands us to work for 6 days and on the 7th to take a rest day, a Sabbath day, a day to be doing what God does, a day to be offered to all, a day to be kept holy – by doing what God does on the Sabbath. This reading reminds us that the Sabbath is a day that was made for us by God. A day for us to rest from the pressures of life and copy what God does. The psalm tells us that the 7th day is a day of festival, a day to make music and sing songs about God, the one and only true God, the God who lifts the burden of the world from our shoulders, the God who saves and rescues us, just as he did in ancient times, when he rescued his people from Egypt. This reading tells us that the Sabbath is a festival day when we can focus on God and call to mind all that God has done for us as we rest from the pressures of life. In Mark’s gospel we hear that Jesus was walking with his disciples on a Sabbath day and the disciples pulled off heads of grain. The Pharisees amongst them complained and said to Jesus that they were breaking the Sabbath rules. In reply, Jesus reminded all who were listening that the Sabbath was made for the people, not the people made for the Sabbath, by telling them part of their history. For when their ancestor David and his companions were hungry, they had gone into the sanctuary and, in the presence of the chief priest, had taken and eaten the holy bread from the altar. Then, after they reached the meeting place, Jesus asked those present about the actions that are permitted on the Sabbath, good or evil actions, and then showed them what he meant by healing a man with a withered hand, even though this was not permitted by the Sabbath rules, in his time. This reading tells us that even though the Sabbath is a day that was made for us by God, when we can rest from the pressures of life and copy what God does; that it is also a day that has become confused by all sorts of human rules – rules set by humankind down the ages, human rules, rules not wanted or required by God. For the rules we have made up down the ages are: rules that misdirect us, rules that trip us up, rules that make the Sabbath a problem to overcome, and rules that distract us from all of God’s best intentions for us. So what should we be doing on the Sabbath? Genesis 2v2-4: By the 7th day God had finished his work and on the 7th day God rested. God blessed the 7th day and made it a holy day because on that day God rested after all the work of creating. Exodus 20v8-11: Keep the Sabbath day holy by copying God and resting from work on the 7th day. Because the 7th day is a day of rest and festival – it is a day when we have time to meet up and gather together: to eat the holy bread, just like King David did; to hel[p those in need, like Jesus did, and to tell one another about what God has done for us, like the people did in the psalm. For we are called to be a people like those we heard about in the letter to the Corinthians. People who are like ordinary, everyday, clay pots – ordinary human beings that God asks to carry the brightness of his message about Jesus. A message that has put our forebears at risk by being battered, terrorised and knocked down. A message we are sent out to carry for the salvation of others. God will be with us. Let us pray: Day by day dear Lord, of you three things we pray: to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly and to follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen Thank you for joining us.
Trinity Sunday Readings: Isaiah 6v1-8; Psalm 29; Romans 8v12-17; John 3v1-17. 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: It is customary on Trinity Sunday to speak about God as the three in one, triune God, named Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But today the readings made me focus on the wondrous nature of God. The God that Psalm 29 tells us is so powerful that the angels stand in awe. The same God who although he rules the world also makes his people strong and gives them his peace. The same God that we hear the prophet Isaiah saw in a vision that terrified him. For in this vision Isaiah saw God sitting on a throne in the temple. A God so large that his robes filled the temple. A God who was surrounded by angels who hovered around God and called out a prayer that we sing or say during our Communion services each Sunday. A song so powerful that the foundations of the temple trembled and the place filled with the smoke of prayer. In this vision Isaiah became aware that even though he was frail, limited and sinful, that he had looked upon the face of God. This is the same God that we hear about in the gospel of John. The God that a prominent leader of the Jews, named Nicodemus, believed had sent Jesus – even though because he was afraid of what others might think, he visited Jesus secretly. The God that Jesus describes as his father, the father who loved the world so much that he allowed his one and only son to come to earth so that no-one need be destroyed and everyone could be saved and gain eternal life. The same God that Paul tells the people of Rome is calling us through his spirit to give up and do away with the life we have had to date so we can get on with the new life we are called to. A new life full of adventure, a new life as God’s children, a new life full of ups and downs, good times and bad; a new life headed towards an amazing, astonishing and incredible inheritance. Today as I read and ponder and think about these scriptures, I am reminded that God is not only awesome and amazing but also a God who wants the very best for each one of us. For as we heard in the gospel, Jesus said that if we submit to the power of God, the wind that hovers over the whole of creation, will immerse us into a new life by making us into new beings, beings who are part of God’s kingdom. A people just like Isaiah, who because we are made clean from our guilt and sins - God asks the question “Who will go for us? Who shall I send?” Today, I ask you what you will answer to God’s call – as for me, like Isaiah, I reply: “I’ll go, send me”. I hope you will answer this way too. Let us pray: Day by day dear Lord, of you three things we pray: to see you more clearly, to love you more dearly and to follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen Thank you for joining us.
