Sunday Worship 16 February 2025

February 16, 2025 colind

Off

Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Sarah Hall

Welcome

Hello! My name is Sarah Hall and I’m a minister working with two churches and the University chaplaincy in Southampton. I’m glad to be able to share worship with you today as we discuss some deep topics: healing, blessing and life.

Call to Worship

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.

Hymn Praise to the Lord, The Almighty
Joachim Neander (1650-1680), Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878). Public Domain sung by Acapeldridge

Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation;
O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation.
All ye who hear now to His temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
shelters thee under His wings, yea so gently sustaineth:
hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been granted
in what he ordaineth?

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work, and defend thee;
surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee;
ponder anew all the Almighty can do,
if with his love He befriend thee.

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!
Let the amen sound from his people again:
gladly for aye we adore him.

Prayers of Adoration and Confession

You are our heart’s desire,
choosing grace over grudges, providing, not withholding;
creating community, not standing far off.
You are our brother and servant,
cradling clenched fists in your scarred hands,
lighting us through the dark times of our lives.
You are the breath of wonder,
blowing death’s dust off our shoulders,
mending our brokenness with resurrection,
whispering words of peace into hearts full of anger.
Yet we do not always choose to listen.

As we focus on Jesus’ ministry of healing,
we can still hold tight to hatred and fear which continue to damage us.
As we are invited to listen to his teaching,
we can still become complacent – after all, we’re all right! –
and ignore the plight of others.
Yet you have sent him before us so that,
as we follow him, we may travel from fear and confusion
to your new life of wholeness and trust.

Assurance of Pardon

Listen! here is good news: Christ Jesus came into the world to forgive us in our failure, to accept us as we are, to set us free from evil’s power and make us what we were meant to be. Through him God says to each of us: “You are accepted. You are forgiven. I will set you free.”

And together we respond, through Jesus Christ, our Lord:
Amen. Thanks be to God.

As forgiven people, let us say together the prayer that Jesus gave us:

Our Father…

Prayer for Inspiration

Living God, help us so to hear your Word that we may truly understand;
that, understanding, we may believe; and believing, we may follow your way in all faithfulness, seeking your honour and glory in all that we do. Amen.

Reading St Luke 6:17-19

Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Comment 1

I wonder, how do you react when you hear a reading like this, speaking about healing happening through Jesus’ touch?

I guess the easiest way is to ignore it. It’s the sort of thing that happened way back when – or at least, that’s the way it got written down. They didn’t know much about the human body in those days, so you could get away with talking about pretty unlikely things, so long as it’s a story about God. The whole point of it is to show people reading the story who Jesus is: God in human form. But it wouldn’t make any sense to look for God’s healing today. That’s what we have the NHS for – and boy, are we thankful to God for them – when we can get an appointment, that is!

That may be the easiest way for us to deal with this sort of reading – but maybe it’s a bit of a cop-out. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe God heals through doctors, nurses, operations, medicine and technology. After all, God gave us brains to figure out how our bodies work. But we all know that’s not the whole story, even nowadays. A sugar pill even when we know it’s only sugar; a listening ear or a hug at just the right moment: that can also be healing, for body as well as for mind and spirit. We don’t know how, but we know it’s true.

If human care can have a healing effect, then, surely God’s love can do more? Shouldn’t we, as Jesus’ followers, be looking for healing from God as a first port of call, not a last-ditch attempt, to try only when all other hope is gone? Certainly, whenever I ask in a service or a church meeting for suggestions of who we want to pray for, people who are ill will always come to mind. And that is right. We believe in a God who knows what it feels like to go through anguish in body, mind and spirit. And in a God who relieves suffering.

There’s a snag, though: and you’ll know what it is just as much as I do. We have no control over the possibility of healing through prayer. There’s no certainty in it. People who have done good suffer, and in spite of prayer their suffering remains. People who seem to have done nothing to write home about get better. Even in our reading, great crowds gathered around Jesus for healing, but others who couldn’t be there that day had no benefit from his presence. It doesn’t seem fair.

When we ask for healing – through medicine and through prayer – and healing comes, it’s easy to know how to react: with gratitude, with thankfulness. When we ask for healing and healing appears not to come: that’s harder.

I’ve heard of times when people blame the sick person. You didn’t have enough faith, they say. Or, It’s because you’re sinful that God didn’t heal you.

If you ever hear either of those things being said to a person who’s already suffering, I’ll tell you for nothing: that’s bad theology, as well as lousy pastoral care. Our God is a God of grace. We cannot earn God’s healing, just as we can’t earn God’s love or God’s forgiveness. They are free.

Another way to react, when our prayers for healing seem not to be answered, is to be angry with God. That’s better theology. All through the Bible, God’s friends have called God to account when life seems inexplicably unfair. And Jesus can take anything we can think of yelling at him.

Yet in spite of all the confusion and contradiction. I do believe God heals, and that the trust involved in asking for healing is part of our journey with Jesus. Life is not pain-free; some people suffer unfairly. The cross shows us that.

But Jesus asked God for healing. So that’s what I want to do too.
However it may turn out.

Hymn Great God of Mercy, God of Consolation
James Quinn SJ © 1980, ICEL OneLicence # A-734713 sung by the congregation of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington DC.

Great God of mercy, God of consolation,
look to your people, gathered here to praise you,
pity our weakness, come in power to aid us,
source of all blessing.

Jesus, Redeemer, Lord of all creation,
come as our Saviour, Jesus, friend of sinners,
grant us forgiveness, lift our downcast spirit,
heal us and save us.

Joy-giving Spirit, be our light in darkness,
come to befriend us, help us bear our burdens,
give us true courage, breath your peace around us,
stay with us always.

God in Three Persons, Trinity Eternal,
come to renew us, fill your Church with glory,
grant us your healing, pledge of resurrection,
foretaste of heaven.

Reading Luke 6:20-23

Then Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

Comment 2

If you think it’s not been totally good news so far this morning, this reading may not be lifting your mood. Blessed are we when we’re poor, when we’re hungry, when we’re grieving, when everyone else thinks we’re a waste of space. Thank you so much, Jesus – that was just what I was aiming at!

This is Luke’s less well known version of Jesus’ teaching about what it is for us to be blessed – a sort of anti-prosperity theology. Where others in his day, and in our own, were arguing that the better you do in life, the more that has to mean God loves you, Jesus had a very different point of view. And even after his death, when people were writing down what he said, we get two contrasting versions, from Luke and from Matthew.

Matthew talks about blessings for people who are poor ‘in spirit’ – people who know their need of God. Matthew talks about blessings for people who hunger and thirst for God’s righteous kingdom to come. And I reckon both of those ideas can be found in Jesus’ teaching, as well as in the Hebrew Bible where Matthew found much of his understanding of Jesus. But Luke’s not talking about spiritual ideals. Luke, who thinks second-class citizens like women and foreigners are worth writing about, Luke has his feet firmly on the ground. His version is that Jesus talks to the crowds and to his followers about being poor. About being hungry. Full stop. No metaphor.

The Good News Bible talks instead of ‘blessing’ about ‘happiness’. Happy are the poor. Happy are the hungry. Hmm. I know sometimes people from the UK travel to parts of the world where most people have much less than we do, in material terms, and report back saying how happy they are. But I’ve not noticed any of these witnesses to other people’s happiness being so convinced that they get rid of all they own. So I’m not sure that really works. Having too much stuff or food won’t make you happy, true: but most people in the world who are literally poor or hungry aim to get out of their situation. You have to be rich to see the benefits of chosen poverty.

And that translation really falls down when Jesus gives us one of the hardest of these sayings of his. Happy are those who weep? Come on, now – there’s a contradiction in terms! I know sometimes it’s preached that we Christians should be joyful 110% of the time, because we have Jesus in our heart – but really. He’s the guy who wept when his friend Lazarus died. So as his followers I reckon we’re allowed to be truthful with ourselves and God, in joy and in sorrow, rather than pasting on a frantic smile because we’re meant to be happy, even as we grieve. God can cope with how we’re really feeling, not how we think we should be reacting to life.

But that leaves us with a problem. Matthew and Luke agree that Jesus told us: blessed are those who weep: for you will laugh. If that doesn’t just mean: given enough time, you’ll get over anything – and as well as a cliché, I’m not even sure that’s true – what can Jesus mean about poverty and hunger, sorrow and even persecution, being blessings to his friends? Maybe because, when things go wrong and, however hard we try, we’re not in control: that’s when we really find we can rely on God. Not to get us out of them, but to get us through them.

Hymn Hey My Love
John L. Bell (1949 – ) and Graham Maule (1958-2019) © 1987, 2002 WGRG, Iona Community. OneLicence # A-734713 Sung by Sarah Hall and used with her permission.

Blessed are the ones I call the poor.
Hey my love and ho my joy.
Blessed are the ones I call the poor who dearly love me;
blessed are the ones I call the poor:
God shall their kingdom’s place ensure.

God’s kingdom is of heaven, of earth, of fire, of love.

Blessed are the ones who deeply mourn.
Hey my love and ho my joy.
Blessed are the ones who deeply mourn who dearly love me;
blessed are the ones who deeply mourn,
God’s comfort in their hearts is known.

God’s kingdom is of heaven, of earth, of fire, of love.

Blessed are the ones who know their need.
Hey my love and ho my joy.
Blessed are the ones who know their need who dearly love me;
blessed are the ones who know their need
in them God’s promises take seed.

God’s kingdom is of heaven, of earth, of fire, of love.

Blessed are the ones the world puts down.
Hey my love and ho my joy.
Blessed are the ones the world puts down who dearly love me.
Blessed are the ones the world puts down
they’ll have the Kingdom for their own.

God’s kingdom is of heaven, of earth, of fire, of love.

Reading 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

Comment 3

If you’ve stayed with me so far today – and heaven knows, the themes of the readings set for today’s service are a bit heavy – then maybe we can see some light at the end of the tunnel in this last reading, from Paul’s first letter to his friends in Corinth.

But it doesn’t start off too well, I have to admit. It starts with an argument. For Paul and the Corinthians surely have their differences. When our Elders or Church meetings get a bit tense, all I have to do, to remember that conflict is part of church life, is to reread 1 and 2 Corinthians. The only way we could avoid conflict would be for one person to force their opinion on everyone else. And as well as being theologically unsound, that’s never going to hold – we just need to look at politics to see that.

So, having dealt in the previous chapter with the tricky issue of people who disagree about worship, Paul takes a deep breath and launches into his theme. Resurrection. The new life God gave Jesus after his death. And the fact that some of the Corinthian church are finding it hard to take it on board. In the bit just before our reading, Paul’s taken a roll-call of all the people who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection: his closest followers; a whole bunch of other Christians; and finally, Paul himself. Now he argues, given all those witnesses, how come you’re saying you can’t believe in resurrection?

Note that Paul’s not saying everyone must encounter the risen Jesus in the same way. Whether Jesus’ original disciples met him in the flesh after his death, or whether their joint memories of him felt like his presence with them, Paul’s own experience – his vision of Jesus on the Damascus Road – is quite different. So again, he’s not arguing that everyone’s understanding must be exactly the same. Good thing, considering that even in a small congregation, I bet if you compared notes, no two people at worship this morning would believe precisely the same things about their faith.

But what Paul is arguing, with all the passion that’s in him, is that believing in resurrection, that God brings new life out of death, is the foundation stone of Christianity. If you believe God doesn’t bring light out of darkness, joy out of sorrow, life out of death, then maybe you’re not in the right place this morning. Because that is the source of our life together.

When I say, believing in resurrection, I don’t mean assenting to facts, like the belief that 2 + 2 = 4, or that the Titanic sank; facts that make little difference to us personally. I mean holding on to that belief when it seems crazy to believe God exists, or cares, or acts. Yet when I say, believing in resurrection, I don’t mean either that we aren’t allowed to waver. From the Bible onwards, doubt and trust are both part of following Jesus, as they are part of any deepening relationship in which we have invested time and effort.

So what? How does all this apply to us? Some of you today know about longing for healing. You know about having little compared with others. You know about mourning. My prayer is that, as we go on following Jesus, we may also discover, in our lived experience, what resurrection means for us: in our individual lives, and as church. Then, however dry our life may be, we will always be able to grow the fruit of trust in God.

Hymn Alleluia, Alleluia Give Thanks to the Risen Lord
Don Fishel © 1973, International Liturgy Publications OneLicence # A-734713 Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. Accompanied by Andrew Ellams and produced by Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.