Printed Service – Sunday 16th June 2024
Prepared by Rev. Ian Gardner
Father’s Day
Call to Worship – Come let us worship God, the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
Hymn – STF 25 – God is here! As we his people
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1 God is here! As we his people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of the Spirit
into open minds and hearts.
2 Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, font, and pulpit;
here the cross has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence, as in speech,
here, in newness and renewal,
God the Spirit comes to each.
3 Here our children find a welcome
in the Shepherd’s flock and fold,
here as bread and wine are taken,
Christ sustains us, as of old.
Here the servants of the Servant
seek in worship to explore
what it means in daily living
to believe and to adore.
4 Lord of all, of Church and Kingdom,
in an age of change and doubt,
keep us faithful to the gospel,
help us work your purpose out.
Here, in this day’s dedication,
all we have to give, receive:
we, who cannot live without you,
we adore you! We believe!
Fred Pratt Green (1903–2000)
Prayer
We lift up our hands, voices, hearts and with them our lives.
Search us, O God, and bring us deeper into the justice of your life-giving Word.
Call us, O God, into knowing more of life – your Word is life, so may we find life with each other.
We rejoice in your never-failing invitation to celebrate and engage with your welcome. Amen.
A prayer of Confession
God of justice, Justice is your name.
We who call ourselves yours have often left justice at the door – preferring words to action.
O God, we have done wrong.
May we pick up justice, and hold it in our hands as we turn back to you.
Support us, O God, in our justice, and in our turning towards justice.
May we know the forgiveness you give us through our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Scripture: 1 Samuel 15: 34 – 16: 13 and Mark 4 26 – 34
1 Samuel 15: 34 – 16: 13
Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” Samuel did what the Lord said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the Lord chosen this one.” Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The Lord has not chosen these.” So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.
Mark 4 26 – 34
He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.” Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.” With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.
Reflection
A good deal has happened since the Israelite elders asked Samuel for a king.
Saul was identified and anointed, but his kingship turned out to be unsatisfactory. The long saga of the books of Samuel and Kings has a single criterion for evaluating the success of kingship: is the king wholeheartedly committed to worshipping Israel’s one God, who is identified as his Father (Psalm 2:7)? Because Saul does not live up to this, especially over his treatment of the Amalekites after victory in battle (see chapter 15), God withdraws favour and the search for a new king is on.
Samuel, at home in Ramah near Bethlehem, mourns the end of his relationship with Saul, and God too is sorry. Saul’s shortcomings as leader grieve them both; the narrative does not address the wider theological questions about why God chose Saul and why this calling broke down. The pause to mark this sorrow is only brief, and the story moves on – change is urgently needed.
For Samuel, Bethlehem was just another insignificant place in Judea. Its fame arose from what he would do there: anoint David as king. Its resonance in Christian tradition also arises from this anointing – Jesus, Son of David, was born in David’s hometown. Samuel’s action changed human history in the short- and long-term. Samuel’s arrival in Bethlehem alarmed the elders – was he coming to challenge them? His reassurance was in line with God’s advice (v.2) but did not reveal the real purpose of his visit. It is not clear whether Jesse is one of the community’s leaders; in any case, his status is not relevant alongside the overwhelming reality of God’s choice. This is reiterated with the rejection of one son after another, all fine young men who might, in Samuel’s eyes, have been suitable. They shared a handsome appearance with Saul, but this was no longer relevant to God’s purposes.
The choice eventually fell on David, the last-born. He was still a boy (17:33; cf 3:1), and an eighth son in a society that recognised seven as the ‘perfect’ number. He had the menial task of keeping the sheep, though this also recalls the lifestyle of Abraham and Moses. This focus on his insignificance fits in a pattern of unexpected choices: why was Jacob chosen over his older brother, or Joseph over his brothers? Change for the better flows from God’s initiative, not human preference; and so David was anointed with oil and received the spirit of the Lord.
Today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark contains two very characteristic elements of Jesus’ teaching: the kingdom of God and parables. The first is an enigmatic term that Jesus often uses in the gospels. Indeed, he begins his public ministry in Mark’s Gospel by proclaiming that the “kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15). We might understand it as meaning something like ‘the place ruled by God’. However, this kingdom is not limited in time or space and is a concept that we may never understand fully: it is a ‘mystery’ or ‘secret’ (Mark 4:11).
In describing this enigmatic concept, Jesus used an enigmatic way of speaking: parables. Contemporaries of Jesus used this way of speaking too but, as we see here (vs 33-34), Jesus seems to have used them so often that they became intimately connected with his ministry. These are not just simple stories for children with a single meaning, though. They are metaphors, proverbs, riddles and more. Parables are meant to challenge their listeners and, like the Kingdom of God, their meaning can often be mysterious.
The two parables quoted here use horticultural metaphors, following on from the famous parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20). The first (vs 26-29) is a rare example of a story that is unique to Mark. Like many parables, it contains someone acting slightly oddly, in this case a farmer who simply sows his seeds and then lets them grow without any further involvement. The second (vs 30-32), which by contrast we find in all three gospels, again refers to seeds. This time it is the seeds of the black mustard plant (Brassica nigra), which can grow up to three metres tall but whose seeds are minute.
These parables, along with most of chapter 4 in Mark’s Gospel , form part of the first major block of Jesus’ teaching. God bless you all as you learn from Christ. Amen
Prayers of Intercession
Our Father, who art in heaven …….
Hymn – STF 397 -The Spirit lives to set us free
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1 The Spirit lives to set us free,
walk, walk in the light;
he binds us all in unity,
walk, walk in the light.
Walk in the light, walk in the light,
walk in the light, walk in the light of the Lord.
2 Jesus promised life to all,
walk, walk in the light;
the dead were wakened by his call,
walk, walk in the light.
3 He died in pain on Calvary,
walk, walk in the light;
to save the lost like you and me,
walk, walk in the light.
4 We know his death was not the end,
walk, walk in the light;
he gave his Spirit to be our friend,
walk, walk in the light.
5 By Jesus’ love our wounds are healed,
walk, walk in the light;
the Father’s kindness is revealed,
walk, walk in the light.
6 The Spirit lives in you and me,
walk, walk in the light;
his light will shine for all to see,
walk, walk in the light.
Damian Lundy (1944–1996)
Words and Music: © 1978, Kevin Mayhew Ltd, Buxhall, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 3BW
Blessing
The blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with you and those you love, this day and for ever more. Amen