God's Work in the Community

Helping

Psalm 147 - Praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem

¹ Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
² The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³ He heals the broken-hearted,
and binds up their wounds.
⁴ He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
⁵ Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶ The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸ He covers the heavens with clouds,
prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹ He gives to the animals their food,
and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰ His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
¹¹ but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.

Hymn – O worship the King, all glorious above www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv2BqFgm6_M

1 O worship the King, all-glorious above;
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendour, and girded with praise.

2 O tell of his might, O sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space;
his chariots of wrath the deep thunder-clouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

3 The earth with its store of wonders untold,
Almighty, your power has founded of old;
established it fast by a changeless decree,
and round it has cast, like a mantle, the sea.

4 Your bountiful care what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distils in the dew and the rain.

5 Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail;
your mercies how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend.

6 O measureless Might, ineffable Love,
while angels delight to hymn you above,
your ransomed creation, though feeble our praise,
in true adoration our voices we raise.

Robert Grant (1779–1838)

Prayer

Everlasting God, creator of heaven and earth,
your love causes our hearts to soar.

You know the number of stars in the universe
– just as you know the number of hairs on our head.
Mighty God: We love you.

You call each star by name
– just as you call us each by name.
Mighty God: We love you.

You supply the earth with rain to make the grass grow; and provide food for the animals and birds
– just as you provide all we need to sustain us.
Mighty God: We love you.

You care about the details, seeing every tiny part of the bigger picture
– just as you care about the tiniest detail in our lives; for you know the person you created each of us to be.
Mighty God: We love you.
Amen.

We’re sorry, Lord, that the weight of life’s demands causes us to stumble, to lose our temper and at times to buckle under the pressure.
Help us to be more like you, Lord.

We’re sorry for not getting our priorities right.
Help us to know, as you did, the importance of spending time with and drawing refreshment from the Father. We’re sorry for allowing other people and things to take over and squeeze out our time with you.

Help us to draw daily on your refreshing strength in order to cope with whatever our day holds.
Lord, hear our prayer.
Amen.

The Son of God loves us.
And because of his love, healing us and setting us free from sin’s guilt and power, we are forgiven.
Amen. Thanks be to God

Readings

1 Corinthians 9: 16-23

¹⁶If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1: 29-39 - Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House

29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

A Preaching Tour in Galilee

35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ ³⁸He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Reflection

(Written during Covid)

One of the challenges of lockdown is that we couldn't go out and mix with the wider community, so our readings today, which encourage us to do just that, must remain theoretical for a while.

Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians, speak of the difficulty of bringing Jesus’s message to people if you are an outsider in their society. The necessity for trust and understanding to be established between the Christian community and their neighbours is essential if they are going to be able to communicate the gospel to people who will take the time to stop and listen. This can only be successfully achieved by being accepted as “one of them”.

As Jesus starts his ministry, he is inundated with visitors, and yet, rather than sit back waiting for them to come to him, he recognises the proactive need to meet people where they are, in their own neighbourhoods. For it is only here that they will get to know him, and he, them, and thereby his preaching will be heard and listened to. The success of his mission is reliant upon the relationships and rapport he establishes wherever he goes, with sinners and saints, tax collectors and the righteous.

For many years we have talked about the importance of reaching out from our buildings so that we might engage with our communities, bringing the gospel of Jesus to those we meet. This is our fundamental mission. For too long we have wondered why they don’t want to come to us, and perhaps that is because a church is an alien environment for so many today. Rather than being an integral part of the community, we are in danger of becoming an island, isolated and irrelevant.

Over the last 12 months, we have been forced out of our buildings, which is a first step, but we have also been prevented from meeting others in the wider community. So what are we to do?

Online and social media have been wonderful ways to engage with people, and who knows how many people who would have never walked into a church have been brought to faith in this time? This wider outreach has to continue, even when we go back to worshipping together, and perhaps even more so. This mixed economy will be the new normal we are so looking forward to.

My concern with Paul’s writing is that it might give the impression that we should try to be a Jack-of-all-trades, particularly with his phrase, “I have become all things to all people”. This is not what Paul is saying, in fact, quite the reverse.

Paul’s call for us is to engage with the whole of society, not just those we are comfortable with, or who are most like us, but in doing so we must remain DISTINCTIVE. We communicate Jesus’ gospel not just in what we say behind closed doors, but in what we do visibly in society. That is why hosting the Foodbank and Larder in Paulton, and singing carols and handing out mince pies in Radstock is so important. The nativity scene displayed in the garden at Paulton at Christmas was an important communication of the Christmas message that everyone could see in the midst of their community.

It is only by being part of the community that we can influence that community. Paul knew that, and Jesus knew that, and they both demonstrated it by their DISTINCTIVE actions, even when that proved costly to them.

When we are able to throw open our church doors (and there is growing hope that is daily nearer to being a reality), we must not retreat back into our buildings, but “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

For I, read we. But let’s start with our own towns and neighbours, before we worry about travelling too far!

Amen

Intercessions & Lords Prayer

God of love, you give power to the faint and strength to the powerless. Many of us are exhausted, juggling with school at the kitchen table, responding to demands of work or family life or dealing with isolation, joblessness and fear.

We pray for our church in the face of this pandemic, struggling with restrictions and frustrated that we cannot do more, fearful of the changes in society around us, and uncertain of what the future holds for our fellowships. Encourage and strengthen us in our work, give us all fresh vision for the future of church and renew our Imagination, creativity and wisdom as we address financial and ministerial challenges.

We pray for the churches in our Circuit, this week for Peasedown St John, and their minister, David Winstanley and lay worker, Julie. As Churches Together, we pray for our brothers and sisters worshipping at Radstock Baptist Church.

Turn us towards each other in acts of loving service, then turn us outwards to carry your gospel of healing into the world.