(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) or Hymns & Psalms (H&P) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit and with the congregation at Christchurch LEP where Methodists and Anglicans worship and witness together and led by Rev Phil Drake our Circuit Superintendent Minister.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to Worship, from Psalm 116
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
7 Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Join in with or read one or both of the following:
Song – StF – Sing of the Lord’s goodness
Song – StF 56, H&P 499 – King of glory
Opening prayer
God of mercy, we thank you for rescuing us and saving us.
When others desert us and all seems lost, thank you that you steadfastly walk alongside us.
As we sink into the abyss,
thank you that you hear our cries for help and pull us out of the pit.
Help us not to forget you and to praise your name,
so others too may know your power to heal and give us a fresh start. Amen.
Old Testament reading:
Gospel reading:
Peter’s confession of faith (Mark 8.29) signifies the turning point in Mark’s story of Jesus. Up until now Mark has been concerned with the question of ‘Who is Jesus?’ Peter’s statement ‘You are the Messiah’ decisively answers that question. It comes as a response, not to the general enquiry ‘Who do people say that I am?’ but to the personally addressed demand, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ In that question is a challenge for each one of us to answer.
Yet even a declaration as decisive as Peter’s is not an end in itself; it is rather the opening of a door onto a whole new way of life, as readers of the gospel are caught up with the disciples in Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, to witness his passion and crucifixion. Here is an invitation to take the words we speak and to test them out in the life we live. Do the beliefs we proclaim continue to ring true amidst the realities of life?
Gospel reading:
Mark 8.30-33 – Rebuke
Following on from Peter’s confession, Jesus instructs the disciples not to tell anyone about him. There is more about Peter’s confession than meets the eye. It would be easy to repeat them without really understanding what they mean. Jesus goes on to teach his disciples about what is going to happen to him – that he will suffer, be rejected, killed and after three days rise again. For the disciples this is a wholly unexpected message. The popular understanding of the day was that the messiah would be a conquering king who would throw out the Romans and who would restore the glory of Israel. A suffering Messiah would have been unimaginable to Peter, and he rebukes Jesus for even suggesting such a thing.
But Peter receives a rebuke in return – and indeed, not just Peter, for we are told that Jesus looks at all the disciples while he says it. And what a sharp rebuke it is! ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ Jesus accuses Peter of being like Satan – opposing everything that God’s way demands. What a contrast with Peter’s earlier confession of faith. Jesus’ rebuke tells us that sometimes, even as people of faith, it is natural and easier to inhabit a comfort zone of faith than to live a life of love. The call to discipleship is a call to tread unfamiliar paths and risk doing new things. What are our comfort zones of faith – those places we are happy to inhabit without really moving on in our faith into those hard places indicated by Jesus’ willingness to take the path of hardship and suffering?
Gospel reading:
Mark 8.34-38 – Ashamed
In the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, we heard about the figure known as the suffering servant. This figure is not worried about what other people say and think and whether they will be shamed by others: his only concern is that he will be vindicated by God. He remains resolute about the message he proclaims, insisting that those who oppose them will not succeed in silencing them. And here is the key part for us – for this suffering servant calls on others to join with him in telling of God’s saving purposes.
Over the summer I spent some time on the island of Malta, staying in the city of Valletta. We had not planned it, but our stay coincided with Valetta’s annual celebration of their patron saint, Dominic. Along streets decorated with many banners and statues, there were processions, bands, crowds and fireworks. I’ve still not quite worked out whether I was a bystanding tourist observing the goings on or a participating Christian moved by a practice of faith markedly different to my own.
One of the things that struck me was how many young people were involved, demonstrating their faith loudly and joyfully as part of the festivities. It reminded me of an occasion from twenty-something years ago, when I attended a Methodist Association of Youth Clubs weekend with a group of young people from Liverpool.
The band Delirious played for the audience their song, ‘I’m not ashamed’:
I’m not ashamed of the gospel,
I’m not ashamed of the one I love.’
It was amazing to hear a couple of thousand young people joining in and who were clearly not ashamed to be proclaiming Christ and his message.
Jesus’ words speak of taking up this path of discipleship – a way of self-denial, and of taking up your own cross and walking with it. Of losing your life that it may be found again. Significantly, Jesus addresses these words not only to the disciples but also to the crowd, calling to them to gather round. In this setting of Mark’s gospel, it is as if the main difference being emphasised is not that between those who are prepared to acknowledge the messiah and those who are not but between those who are prepared to follow him on the way of suffering and those who are not. And this is particularly pointed, because at the end of the Mark’s gospel we hear how it is the twelve disciples themselves who will be found among those who are ashamed of Jesus. They betray him, run away and desert him and, in Peter’s case, deny him altogether. How can we build one another up in our sense of personal discipleship so that we can speak out and act unashamedly for Christ?
Meditation (if you are using this in the company of someone else, you could read the following out loud with two different voices)
A Jesus asked them, ‘Who do you say that I am’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’
B What am I ashamed of? I am ashamed of nothing. I am glad to be one of your followers; I believe you are God’s chosen one; I will stand by you through thick and thin.
A Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering. and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
B What am I ashamed of? I am ashamed of powerlessness. I cannot accept a God who is not powerful; I don’t want you to hang on a cross; I want an end to pain and suffering, not more of the same.
A And Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
B What am I ashamed of? I am ashamed of this rebuke. I don’t want people to see my indignity; I want to hide my vulnerability and pain; I wish the ground would open up and swallow me.
A Jesus said to them, ‘If any want to be a follower, let them deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.’
B What am I ashamed of? I am ashamed of myself. I fall short of the high standards you set; I cannot live up to the self-giving you show us; I am ashamed of my weakness and incomprehension.
Prayer of confession
God, you are our challenger and adversary.
We confess that we too are sometimes ashamed:
ashamed of you and of ourselves.
As we hear you say to us, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’
lift us from shame and strengthen us to serve you
in the strength of Jesus. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
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.
Song – H&P 699, StF 449 – Lord of creation, to you be all praise
Song – StF 272, MP 133 – From heaven you came helpless babe (The servant King)
Closing prayer:
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. Opening prayer taken from Roots resources, copyright Roots For Churches Ltd. Meditation and prayer of confession taken from J. Jarvis and D. Pickard, Companion to the Revised Common Lectionary (Volume 3), with permission to copy short sections for use in acts of worship. Photos: Phil Drake
