Worship at Home - By John Hinton

A gathering prayer:

Lord, we come before you, individual and complex people; yet all with the same desire

to worship you. We pray that you will speak your love deep into our hearts today. Be with us, Lord. Amen.

StF 247: I dance in the morning (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAopVFYtF_M)

Prayer of confession:

Lord, we confess that are often too tied up in our own lives to attempt to think creatively, imaginatively, differently; to begin to pursue all the wonderfully positive ‘what ifs’ there may be around us;

to take the time to see your glory and all that means; to look for your glory in unexpected places. Forgive us, Lord, as we come humbly to you. Help us to listen for, and act upon, your Spirit’s promptings. Amen.

Lord’s Prayer

Message:

Our opening hymn captured the meaning of Easter perfectly. “I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black, it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back, they buried my body and they thought I’d gone, but I am the dance and I still go on!” The authorities, religious and secular, did indeed bury Christ’s body in the confidence that they had rid the world of the troublesome teacher. But God had other ideas! The dance was to go on! But I fear that the church has, over the centuries and up to the present day, continued to entomb the risen Jesus again, and again, and again by our rules and by our prejudices.  I’ll explain more in a moment, but first let’s hear the appointed gospel reading for today:  John 13:31-35

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 

Jesus’s command was not just that his followers should love one another BECAUSE he loved them… but to love one another AS he loved them.

We’ll come back to that in a moment, but let me share just a couple of examples of how I think the Church has entombed the risen Christ over the centuries. Christ was entombed when the church used scripture to support pogroms against the Jews. Christ was entombed again when the church used scripture to support slavery and apartheid. But that’s history, what about the present? Well firstly, we entomb Christ by our failure to treat women as equal heirs to the Kingdom of God. It seems to me that nowhere else in our society are women so manifestly discriminated against. They may be blessed with the best ability and talents, the Holy Spirit may be burning more brightly in their lives, but their role is limited in many of our main line Christian churches. The justification? well it’s down to rules, a sprinkling of tradition and a few biblical texts. 

But what about the disciples? they were all men weren’t they? Women had a role in the early church…but not the top roles!!  Well perhaps that was the case but Jesus lived and worked within the cultural norms of his society – and that was a male dominated society …..BUT look at how important Women were in his life and in his ministry. Let’s list them:

• Mary Magdalene – she was, according to scripture, the first person Christ chose to appear to post resurrection.

• Mary and Martha were so important to Jesus, offering critical support and encouragement to him in his ministry.

• His meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well is the only time that Jesus’s encounter with someone is given the significance that merits almost an entire chapter in the gospel to be dedicated to it. It is arguable that she was the one of the very first evangelists when we read “Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ……We could go on!

I have a book called “A woman’s commentary on the bible” – it gives a fascinating counterbalance to a male dominated view of scripture! There is an argument that churches who practice such discrimination against women should be charged with breaking the equality laws of our land. But more importantly I believe that such discrimination in the name of the church “entombs the risen Christ again”.

Another group in society still discriminated against by the Church are those of different sexual orientation. We have moved our position - albeit painfully slowly - but we still do not universally offer an equal and unconditional welcome. Once again, the position is justified by rules, a sprinkling of tradition and a few biblical texts. But it’s important to note that Jesus said nothing …absolutely nothing on the subject. There is no mention of it in any of the four gospels. Once again, I would suggest the discrimination shown by the church to individuals of a different sexual orientation “entombs the risen Christ again”.

Why do I suggest that discrimination in these ways “Entombs Christ again”? Well look again at the challenge Jesus laid before us at the very end of his earthly ministry: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another”. How did Jesus love? open heartedly. constantly looking beyond the label to the person beneath. He showed his anger not at who a person was but at what a person chose to do, or not do. Did you feed the hungry? Did you clothe the naked? Did you welcome the stranger? Every time, every single time, that people put up barriers suggesting that others were “unacceptable, unwanted or of less value” Jesus would have none of it: That is how Jesus loved. That is how he challenges us to love in his name. That is why I suggest that to demean and “limit” other people through prejudice and discrimination - even if it can be justified by reference to passages in scripture – entombs the risen Christ again.

It imprisons the searing, liberating, uplifting, all embracing, love of Jesus inside a tomb of rules and regulations. It extinguishes the light of the risen Christ!

Let’s sing again … a hymn that reminds us that we should never, ever, erect barriers that he died to end!

StF 691: What shall our greeting be

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYpnNPZD9PI)

Prayer of intercession:

Holy God, you have called us to follow in the way of your risen Son,

and to care for those who are our companions, not only with words of comfort, but with acts of love.

Seeking to be true friends of all, we offer our prayers on behalf of the church and the world.

Guide us in the path of discipleship, so that, as you have blessed us, we may be a blessing for others, 

bringing the promise of the kingdom near, by our words and by our deeds. Amen.

StF 306: Now the green blade rises from the buried grain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-5Bi2jM40E

May the peace of God enfold us, the love of God uphold us and the wisdom of God direct us.

Amen