8th October 2023
Prepared by Rev. Derek Grimshaw
‘What demands do you put on God?’
Bible Reading: Psalm 105: 19
till what he foretold came to pass, till the word of the Lord proved him true.
Hymn: StF 19 Be still and know that I am God
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Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
Be still and know that I am God
I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee
I am the Lord that healeth thee
In thee, O Lord, I put my trust
In thee, O Lord, I put my trust
In thee, O Lord, I put my trust
Prayers:
Lord God, we pray to you, as Father Son and Holy Spirit, to praise you, For You are our God. We pray to thank you for all that You have done for us, for you are always there. We pray to You as our God, who made the world, died for us, rose again to show us the way to heaven, and lives in us all. We bring before you the burden of all the sins we have committed, and we say Lord God, we are sorry for them. We know that such is your Love, we are forgiven our sins. Thanks be to you, Our God, Amen
Old Testament Reading: Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20
And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work,
“Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.”
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
Gospel Reading: Matthew 21: 33-46
“Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
“But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
“‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
Sermon:
I have never been the most patient of people, I want to get on with whatever task is in hand at any given time. One aspect of work that is consuming my life at the moment is the stationing of ministers. I am due to move on from the Ipswich Circuit at the end of August next year and that means that the next few weeks are critical in terms of where my family are going to be in a years’ time and who will be coming to Ipswich to replace me. The whole process is governed by “The code of practice” which must be followed by everybody concerned to ensure that the process is as fair as possible.
Whether we like it or not, we live by a moral and ethical code and in all aspects of our lives there are rules that ought to be obeyed. I am careful to say “ought to be” rather than “must” because in recent times we have witnessed at some of the highest levels in society the rule makers becoming the rule breakers and whilst we might prefer to just do as we please, the reality is that there must be a code of behaviour, or human life as we know it will be chaotic and dangerous.
Even back at the early part of the Old Testament story as Moses is leading the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land there are no rules, people are just expected to be responsible human beings, caring for one another and looking after each other. Ideal as that might sound, throughout history people have tended to be selfish, looking out for their own self interests and not putting others needs and concerns first, so God gives ten simple rules for harmonious living.
By the time of Jesus the “rules” had become a complex series of hundreds of laws and Jesus with his no nonsense approach manages somehow to encapsulate all this into one single instruction “as I have loved you, so you must love one another” the parable we have just read from St Matthews Gospel reminds us that even in the time of Jesus, people were still putting their own self interest ahead of the Gospel narrative. The story might have a different interpretation today than it had even two thousand years ago, “this is OUR world, and we can do whatever we want in it, and with it” seems to be the modern narrative and look at what a mess we have made of it.
If we take the single command of Jesus seriously, then surely, we should be thinking about how we live our lives with the welfare of all humankind, with its delicate ecosystem in mind. We live in a consumer world, where we take all, we can and want to own the world and everything in it and that approach is simply not sustainable any longer. There is a lot of conversation currently about the climate crisis and taking responsibility for our actions and I believe that goes way beyond flogging our diesel cars and buying electric. It is about our attitude, what drives us, motivates us, what we want and maybe the time has come to look way beyond our own desires.
The stationing process is a good example. The chances are that there will be about half as many ministers available for the appointments that need filling. The responsible attitude would be to start looking at alternatives, but my guess is that, up and down the country, Churches and Circuits will be bombarding God in prayer saying “don’t worry about the others, we are a special case” what does God do? Can he really please everybody? Can we all get our own way?
Consider:
- What demands do you put on God? are they selfless, putting other people’s interests above your own?
- Can you give a little way?
- Who does the world belong to, us, or God? what changes can you make, even small, or insignificant, that can make a difference for the welfare of others.
A time of prayer
Gracious God, we bring before you our prayers for the world
We pray for all those who lack physical things, food, shelter, water, and all of life’s necessities.
We pray for those who mourn, and those who ail. Lord, for those we may help, may our hands work quickly, and for those we personally cannot help, we pray for the hands that will.
We pray for all those who work to provide care and help to others. Lord bless them and keep them from tiredness and error, and those they care for, keep them from despair. We bring the names of those known to us before you…
We pray for all in spiritual distress, who struggle to hear your message, or to come to you in prayer. Lord, help them to heed.
We pray for ourselves. Strengthen us to come through renewed in faith in certainty.
We pray for our land and nation. Lord, help us all to endure, to do our duty and to serve you faithfully. May our land be brightened by the Light of Lord as we leave these times behind.
Lord, we ask these things, knowing that when we pray, wherever we pray, you hear our prayers. Thanks be unto you, Father Son and Holy Spirit, Amen
The Lord’s Prayer:
Hymn: StF 351 In Christ alone
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In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand
In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live, I live
There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ
No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
Till He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand
A prayer of blessing
Lord, as we go forth, may we see all the things you long for us to notice. May we be your people in all we do and say. Amen