(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF), Hymns & Psalms (H&P) or Mission Praise (MP) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at Bolton Methodist Church led by Rev Phil Drake our Circuit Superintendent Minister.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
For this service I am using a gospel reading that does not appear in the lectionary readings from Luke’s gospel this year. It explores themes of what it means to be an outsider and the power of God to bring the gift of new life.
Call to worship: Hear these words of Jesus: ‘I say to you, get up, rise!’ (from Luke 7:14)
Join in with singing or reading one of these songs:
Song – StF 148 or H&P 575 – Come let us with our Lord arise
Song – StF 247 – The Lord of the dance
Prayer of approach
Living God, we come to you with our needs and our longings.
We come conscious of all the barriers that stand in our way
– our own weakness and frailty, our lack of courage, our rejection by others.
We praise you that in Jesus you meet us in our weakness,
give us new confidence and strength, and welcome us whoever we are.
And so we come, trusting in your love, and knowing that in you
our faith is restored and we are made whole. Amen.
Reading
Food for thought: On the outside
It happened on the outside.
Not inside of the town of Nain, but outside its walls.
As Jesus and his disciples were approaching the town gate, they met a widow and a funeral procession coming the other way.
Over the last two years I have spent a lot of time with my mum since she became a widow. Being widowed can be a difficult place to be. You are no longer part of a couple, and sometimes others don’t always know how to approach you. It’s not that they are being unkind, just that they are having to learn how to relate to you in a different way. Sometimes this results in you feeling ‘out of place’ or ‘out of sorts’.
Let’s think about the widow Jesus met on his way into Nain. The Law said that special provision should be made for the widow – as for the orphan and the stranger. But the reality was that the state of widowhood was often regarded as a disgrace, because you no longer had a husband to support, and you became reliant on the charity of others, who would give with the one hand and shun with the other.
But surely there is the support of her family? Maybe, yet we meet this widow just as she was facing a double blow – for not only was she a widow but now she had lost her only son. So now she found herself heading outside the town wall to the place of burial. The place of burial was always on the outside, and those tainted by death were also treated as outsiders, made unclean by their association with the one who had died.
Jesus went out of his way to associate himself with such outsiders. Luke particularly paints a picture of Jesus spending much of his time with those on the margins – the sinners, the outcasts, and all those that respectable society would have nothing to do with. In Luke’s gospel, the story preceding this one is about the Roman centurion – a foreigner, an alien outsider – showing faith in Jesus. And here, in today’s story, Jesus aligns himself with the grieving widow who has lost her son, by reaching out and touching the bier, making himself unclean for her sake.
You see, it’s when we are on the outside that we can be most in touch with the compassion of Jesus. Whether it be in our own need, or whether it be because we are standing alongside others on the outside; whether we are the widow, or amongst the crowd accompanying her through the city gate, it is then that we are most open to seeing, feeling and knowing the compassion of Jesus.
Jesus was an outsider. He was rejected by the residents of his home town of Nazareth (they threatened to throw him over a cliff). Even in Jerusalem, the home of his people, he was castigated as an outsider. Tried and condemned, he was taken through and beyond the city gates to be killed on a hillside and buried in a stranger’s grave. His great work of salvation, as the Good Friday hymn reminds us, was accomplished on the outside:
‘There is a green hill far away
outside the city walls
Where out dear Lord was crucified
and died to save us all.
And when we hear about the compassion Jesus showed to this woman who had lost her only son to death, we can feel ourselves close to the love of God who gave up his only son so that we might have life.
Question for reflection:
When have you found yourself on the outside of things? What has that taught you about the love of God in Jesus?
Reading
Food for thought: Rise!
The young man is restored to life, raised from death by Jesus.
Yet, as telling as this event undoubtedly is, there is something more at work here. For the miracle points to something else – the truth that Jesus is a prophet sent from God. It is not just a young man that is being raised up, it is a prophet of God that is being raised up. As the people proclaim: ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’
The Jewish people looked for the time when the prophet Elijah would return, and this is behind John’s question, are you the one who is to come. Just as the miracle points to Jesus as a prophet, so John the Baptist points to Jesus the new Elijah. But the miracle of a life restored also points us to the resurrection of Jesus himself. And in this we come to know that Jesus is more than Elijah, for in him is one who will not just bring restored life for one individual but will bring new life for all.
The outcome of the story is that the Good News is spread. The young man doesn’t just sit up; he sits up and speaks. The young man restored to life begins to speak, and in the same way, the word of the gospel is given life. Through the words and actions of Jesus, God’s saving message, is made real in the world.
The word gets around about the work of Jesus, as it spreads through Judea and all the surrounding country, and to John the Baptist and his followers. The people say, ‘God has looked favourably upon us.’ In the town of Nain, the people have indeed been favoured, and as the word spreads, so also does the glory given to God.
The Christ who meets and shows compassion to the outsider and those in deep need. The Christ who gives a sign of new life to come, to be offered for all. Here indeed is cause for Good News. May we share that same Good News with those we meet and especially with those who need to hear it the most. Amen.
Question for reflection:
Verse 14 tells us that when Jesus reached out to touch the bier, those carrying the body stood still. If we were to stop and wait now, what evidence of resurrection would be revealed to us? What sign of new life in Christ would be given to us, if we were to be still in anticipation of some new work of God? Just as the message to John and his disciples was to look and listen as to what they could see and hear, we need to do the same. Sometimes we need to take time simply to stand and be still for such things to be revealed to us.
Way into prayer
- Think of life as a kaleidoscope.
- Make a list of all the things on your mind (cares, joys, sorrows, celebrations, pains, whatever).
- Write each one on a different scrap of paper (you could use different coloured papers), writing the same word(s) on both sides of the paper.
- Now gather all the scraps together, and drop them in a heap in front of you. Without moving them, look at them and offer them to God.
- Look at them from different angles.
- See how what may have been a dominant concern can be seen from a different perspective.
- Each thing on your list – represented by the word(s) on each scrap of paper – is important to you and part of the whole, but just as turning a kaleidoscope makes things look different, so too this exercise in prayer can help you see God in a new or different way.
Prayers of intercession
Welcoming God, we bring our prayers for those who are the outsiders in our society.
We pray for those in poverty, living on the crumbs and scraps of others’ riches.
We pray for those who are denied the basics of living,
food and water, shelter, housing or healthcare.
We pray for those who have no place of safety,
for refugees and asylum seekers who have no home to call their own.
God of the outsider, we pray that you will bring healing and welcome to all.
Lord, hear us. Lord, graciously hear us.
Listening God, we bring our prayers for those who are denied a voice.
We pray for those whose voices are silenced
by the denial of human rights and freedom of speech.
We pray for all those who are prisoners of conscience,
suffering because they have taken a stand for justice and freedom.
We pray for those who are excluded and pushed aside,
mocked, insulted or abused for their race, gender or sexuality.
God of the voiceless, we pray that you will give power and hope to all.
Lord, hear us. Lord, graciously hear us.
Faithful God, we bring our prayers for all those who struggle with faith.
We pray for those for whom faith is lifeless, stifled by rules and regulations.
We pray for those for cry out in desperation, feeling that their prayers are unanswered.
We pray for those who feel unwelcome at your table,
excluded by their own weakness or the prejudice of others.
God of the gospel, we pray that you will give living, life-changing faith to all.
In the name of the Christ who brings welcome, hope and change,
Lord, hear us. Lord, graciously hear us. Amen.
Song – StF 415 or H&P 804 – The church of Christ in every age
Song – StF 407 or MP 1282 – Hear the call of the kingdom
Blessing:
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all forevermore. Amen.
Acknowledgments: Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Prayer resources taken from Roots resources, copyright Roots For Churches Ltd.
