Worship at Home
Worship for the Week Beginning 20th February 2022
“Anti-Torture Vigil – Week 16” flickr photo by Shrieking Tree https://flickr.com/photos/shriekingtree/5225013483 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license
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01604 266000.
Sunday 20th February
Rev Alan Sharp has prepared this week’s message
This short act of worship is for use from home. Please use this service whenever you like during the week.
Pause to settle yourself in God’s presence, knowing that other people are sharing in worship with you.
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© ROOTS for Churches Ltd www.rootsontheweb.com. Reproduced with permission.
Call to Worship
Father, we thank you that we are loved by you; no matter what. You call us to let your love flow through us to other people including those who may have hurt us. Give us the grace and compassion to do this, and give us understanding as we explore this today.
Amen.
StF 94 To God be the glory
To God be the glory, great things He hath done!
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life in atonement for sin,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord!
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord!
Let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the
Son; and give Him the glory – great things He hath done!
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood! To every believer the promise of God!
The vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives:
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done, and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son; But purer, and higher, and greater will be our wonder, our rapture when Jesus we see:
Prayer
Father, in Christ you have shown us a better way to live. When someone wrongs us, our first thought is to take revenge, to give as good as we got. But you teach us to take pause for thought, and by so doing, perhaps make ‘them’ do likewise. We praise you, God, for your wisdom, imparted to us through your Son, Jesus Christ, and revealed to us by the Holy Spirit to whom be all thanks and praise, now and for ever.
Amen.
Bible Reading
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come close to me.’ When they had done so, he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! 5 And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. 6 For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no ploughing and reaping. 7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 ‘So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. 9 Now hurry back to my father and say to him, “This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. 10 You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me – you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. 11 I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.”
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
StF 638 Through all the changing scenes of life
Through all the changing scenes of life,
in trouble and in joy, the praises of my God shall still my heart and tongue employ.
O magnify the Lord with me, with me exalt his name; when in distress to him I called he to my rescue came.
The hosts of God encamp around the dwellings of the just; deliverance he affords to all who on his succour trust.
O make but trial of his love, experience will decide how blest are they, and only they,
who in his truth confide.
Fear him, you saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear; Make you his service your delight, your wants shall be his care.
To Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the God whom we adore be worship, as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.
Bible Reading
Love for enemies
27 ‘But to you who are listening I say: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who ill-treat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Judging others
37 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflection
Last Monday card shops were full of Valentine’s Day cards suitable for many different recipients. Today’s Gospel reading is about love but it’s a long way from that expressed on those cards. I wonder if you’ve heard the quotation from the American writer, Mark Twain: “It’s not the parts of the Bible I don’t understand that worries me… it’s the parts that I do”. No-one knows what he had in mind but I want to suggest that this Gospel passage fits the bill. When Jesus says “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” he’s not talking in riddles. He’s blunt and to the point.
This is hard stuff. I wonder if the people listening drew their breath at this point?
It’s quite early in the ministry of Jesus and he is asking a lot of people. And he seems to be asking a lot of us too. Who can love their enemies? And do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return? The Old Testament reading tells of Joseph in Egypt, suddenly meeting the brothers who had ill-treated him and yet refuses to take his revenge.
And now Jesus is saying that he wants followers who will go beyond what the Jewish law required. This is made clear if we look at this passage in Matthew’s gospel, beginning at 5.38. He says there “You have heard that it was said ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth’”; and then in 5.43 we read “You have heard that it was said ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy’”. Each time he says “But I tell you …” calling us not to be guided by the law, whatever it allows or demands. He says “Go beyond it”.
I referred earlier to Valentine’s Day. When we feel romantic love for someone, the Bible’s word for that is Eros also the name of the famous statue at Piccadilly Circus. There’s also a word for the affection we may feel for a friend, and that is Philia from which we have our word philanthropic. But Jesus uses a different word Agape. And throughout the New Testament this word is used to describe selfless love, a love that is not just emotion but is a commitment, a calling.
Duty will obey the rules, but this kind of love looks for opportunities. Just as Joseph saw an opportunity to build a bridge with the brothers who had abused him, rather than a wall.
God’s love for us is overwhelmingly generous. He treats us far better than we deserve, and continues to turn the other cheek, and to reach out to us in love no matter how unfaithful we have been.
In the Gospel Jesus is saying that he wants us to learn from God’s example, and He lives out his words as he loves those who abuse Him. It seems that we’ll always need politicians and even armies to deal with problems like Ukraine. But Jesus calls you and me to treat others the way God treats us even our enemies.
There is no video this week, but to hear Paul read Alan’s reflection click Play below.
Prayers of Intercession
Heavenly Father, help us to reflect your grace and goodness; make us slow to anger and not too ready to condemn.
Loving God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray that your church may be open and welcoming to all in need, and bring healing to people and places where enmities have left divisions and hurts.
Loving God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We pray for the peacekeeping forces of the world and all those seeking to bring an end to conflict, strife or aggression.
Loving God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Remember with love all who are struggling at this time, all whose lives are threatened through illness or disability. We pray especially for friends who are ill or in need.
Loving God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We rejoice that in our God we are more than conquerors. In your power, O Lord, we will overcome all evil, we will triumph over death and rejoice in life eternal. We pray for loved ones departed that they may rest in peace and rise in glory.
Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
Please use the version that you prefer
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.
Amen.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.
Amen.
StF 615 Let love be real, in giving and receiving
Let love be real, in giving and receiving,
Without the need to manage and to own;
A haven free from posing and pretending,
Where every weakness may be safely known.
Give me your hand, along the desert pathway,
Give me your love wherever we may go.
As God loves us, so let us love each other;
with no demands, just open hands and
space to grow.
Let love be real, not grasping or confining,
That strange embrace that holds yet sets us free; That helps us face the risk of truly living,
And makes us brave to be what we might be.
Give me your strength when all my words are weakness; Give me your love in spite of all you know. Refrain
Let love be real, with no manipulation,
No secret wish to harness or control;
Let us accept each other’s incompleteness,
And share the joy of learning to be whole.
Give me your hope through dreams and disappointments; Give me your trust when all my failings show. Refrain
Closing Prayer
Lord, thank you that we are loved and forgiven by you. We know it is hard to love those who have hurt us. Give us your strength. Help us to love our enemies. Help us to do good to those who hate and hurt us. And help us to know when we have hurt others, and to repent, and to seek only to do good, in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
Service prepared by Rev Alan Sharp
Webpage: Paul Deakin