Worship at Home - By David Godfrey

Hello everyone and welcome back. Today in our worship we look at Jesus's return to Nazareth and think about the treatment that he received in his hometown.

But first, we begin with a couple of verses from Psalm 71. The Psalmist writes,

In you. Oh Lord I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame.

In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me.

Incline your ear to me and save me.

Hymn: StF 449, H&P 699, Lord of Creation to you be all praise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3jh7sEFHvo

Prayers:

Confession and words of assurance:   Lord Jesus Christ, you speak words of truth into our lives.  Some truth is painful, but without it there can be no genuine love.  We confess that sometimes we love our own success and comfort more than your kingdom.  We are sometimes jealous when you bless other people instead of reserving all your blessing for us.  Please forgive us gracious God and show us how to love other people as you do.  Amen.  Love generates honesty and opens its arms to forgiveness.  As we confess our sins, we find peace, knowing God has healed us with mercy and truth. Amen.

Reading:  Luke 4:21-30

Reflection:

Today’s Gospel reading, of Jesus in the Synagogue at Nazareth, begins with the words, ‘All spoke well of him’.  It ends with those same people trying to hurl Jesus down a cliff.  So what went wrong?  Nazareth was Jesus’s home town and Jesus had developed something of a reputation for being a fine preacher and healer.  The people must have felt they owned this young man who’d grown up amongst them.  Jesus started well by choosing a real crowd pleasing favourite text.  But then he attacked his own by saying,

‘I’m not going to do miracles here or minister among you’. Because, ‘no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town.’  Ouch!  It may be true, but that was a provocative thing to say.  

Jesus goes on to remind the people of two Old Testament stories of how God blessed foreigners rather than Jews.  The first was about the widow at Zaraphath in Sidon, who looked after Elijah.  The second concerned the story of Naaman, the Syrian General who came to Elisha.  Through Elisha, God cured him of leprosy.  Jesus made the point that there were many widows and lepers in Israel in Elijah and Elisha’s time, but it was outsiders that God chose to bless and heal.  The idea that God’s blessings were for Godless foreigners and not for faithful Jews was too much for the crowd.  It is at this point they manhandled Jesus out of the synagogue.  They wanted to kill him, but somehow, in the confusion, he slipped away.

In Jesus’s mind, faith and reliance on God, always triumphs over ethnic belonging.  The people though were incensed at Jesus suggestion that God was today working out his plan of salvation in the world, and it didn’t involve them.  Today, we could of course reject Jesus words, as did the people in the synagogue long ago.  Or we could welcome that timeless message, that God blesses outsiders.  That truth may seem outrageous to us, within the church, who’ve worshipped and served faithfully for many years.  And yet, God will not be domesticated and shut in by us.  May we remember that God’s blessing rests on surprising people, in surprising places.  May we have the faith to join in with his work, wherever it leads.

Hymn:  StF 164, H&P 482, ‘Your words to me are life and health’  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeaJBRDgQaQ 

Prayers: 

Intercessions:    Today we pray for those suffering as a consequence of war.  We pray for the people of Ukraine, Sudan and Yemen.  We also pray for the ceasefire between Israel, Hamas and others in the region.  We pray for those who are subject to discrimination and unfair treatment because of their gender, culture, religion or sexuality as they struggle with the inequity.  We pray for your church as it stands alongside those who are unloved, isolated or forgotten in our communities.  And we place before you the sick and the sorrowful, the dying and the bereaved, that they might find healing and peace.  We ask these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

The Lords Prayer

Hymn:  StF ‘404, H&P 315, ’God’s Spirit is in my heart’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-ibXHqsUTw

May we take God’s love with us this week and show it to those who feel lost, alone or afraid.

Give us a heart for those who do not yet know the Lord.

And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon us this day and always.

Amen.