Sunday Worship – 26th February 2023

All our hymns this morning are found in Singing the Faith

Welcome to worship this morning. Our service this morning is led by Mrs Laura Tunnacliffe, our Circuit Youth Worker, at Thornton Methodist Church and shared with our friends worshipping at home across the circuit and beyond.

Call to worship

Let us come together before God, our consoler in distress.
Let us come together before God, our hiding place from troubles.
Let us come together before God, whose love surrounds us.
Let us rejoice in the Lord, our comforter and refuge.

When we get things wrong, we place our trust in you, Lord.
When we feel lost and alone, we place our trust in you, Lord.
When we are scared and hurting, we place our trust in you, Lord.
When we face the unknown, we place our trust in you, Lord, relying on your endless love. Amen.

Hymn – StF 28 – Jesus calls us here to meet him

Prayers

Jesus Christ, our wonderful Lord and Saviour, who when tempted in the desert, resisted,
in the world, but not of the world: we worship and adore you.
When tempted by bread, you chose the word of God.
When tempted to be spectacular, you chose humility.
When tempted by riches and power, you chose servanthood.
Lord Jesus Christ, we worship and adore you.
Amen.

Lord, we are sorry when we are tempted by all that the world has to offer us:
the temptation to be relevant and popular; the temptation to be spectacular and successful;
the temptation for power and wealth and so many things. We are sorry when we make the wrong decisions. We are sorry for the temptations that lead to addiction, corruption and ultimately hurt other people.

Forgive us, Lord.
We seek your wisdom and discernment to make better choices, to be rooted in you.
We thank you that, in our weaknesses, we can be made strong; and that it is in weakness, in the desert times of our lives, that amazing things can happen.
We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Though tempted and though we make bad choices, through the cross we are assured of healing and forgiveness. In our weakness we are made strong.
We are forgiven and God gives us a blank canvas to start again, to create together something beautiful.
Amen.

Readings:

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7 (from The Message translation)

God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order. God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?” The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’” The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.” When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

Matthew 4:1-11 (from the Modern English Version translation)

Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. And He had fasted for forty days and forty nights, and then He was hungry. And the tempter came to Him and said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be turned into bread.” But He answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, and set Him on the highest point of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written, ‘He shall give His angels charge concerning you,’ and ‘In their hands they shall lift you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is also written, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their grandeur, and said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. ” Then Jesus said to him, “Get away from here, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’ ” Then the devil left Him, and immediately angels came and ministered to Him.

Hymn – StF 254 – Seek ye first the kingdom of God

Sermon

How many of you remember being a teenager? Were you the sort of teenager who did absolutely everything that your parents told you to do or were you the sort of teenager who did the exact opposite? Perhaps you were one of those young people who followed all the rules while you were living at home but then started to experiment and explore more after you moved out and were finding your own path. Whether we recognise ourselves in this or whether we were a mixture, somewhere in between all of these, every single one of us went through a transition from having everything provided for us – food, shelter, clothing etc – to having to work out how to find it for ourselves.

Today’s readings are both very familiar readings to many of us. It is sometimes really hard to connect with familiar readings like this and to hear God speaking something new to us through them because we know them so well. There is a reason why those driving regular and familiar routes can be at greater risk of an accident than those on unfamiliar ground. With familiarity can come complacency, a tendency to switch off a bit. We’ve heard these stories so many times before that we know all there is to know about them. But do we?

We all know the presentation of Adam and Eve as being very easily led, Eve being convinced to try fruit from the one tree she wasn’t supposed to touch and then convincing Adam to do the same, the “original” sin which caused them to be thrown out of Eden in into the harsh reality of having to fend for themselves. But what about if we stop, rewind, and reacquaint ourselves with Adam and Eve and look at the story from a different point of view.

Adam and Eve were living in the garden of Eden, protected from what was going on outside the garden, provided with food and shelter. They ran around with no clothes on and were full of joy and wonder, much like preschool aged children do. They had no fear and no concept of what loss was. Everything in their world was perfect. And then along came the serpent. The serpent encouraged them to try something different. This is where the story gets interesting. This is the part where they start to have some autonomy. I work a lot with children, I have my own children, and one of the hardest times as a parent is when your child starts to be exposed to outside influences. All of a sudden you are no longer the only one shaping your child’s learning and understanding. They suddenly come home and refuse to eat a certain food because their best friend says it’s yucky. They start to get ideas that might not totally gel with yours. In my Squirrel Scouts group, so 4-6 year olds, we have a little boy who rocks up in pink wellies. He was allowed to choose his own wellies and he picked pink ones. Why not?! After all, pink is just a colour, and if you look back 100 years or so, pink was the colour that little boys were dressed in because it was considered “warming”. One of the other boys in the group asked why he was wearing girls wellies because pink is a girls colour. A total clash of thoughts and understandings of the world, brought on by the influences of others around them. We diffused the situation by telling them that there is no such thing as boy colours and girl colours, and moved on, but the impact of that conversation has rippled on for a few weeks for the boy in the wellies. However much we want to protect our children, keep them safe in the bubble of the ”perfect”, we don’t do them any favours by sheltering them so completely. If we view Adam and Eve through the lens of children or young people it gives us a different point of view. Being so protected in the perfection of the Garden, did Adam and Eve just not understand the consequences of their choice? Did the serpent set out to deliberately trick them or was the serpent more of a teacher, introducing them to the “knowledge” that goes with the adult world? When they ate the fruit they didn’t die, so was this a lesson in disobedience or is it about choice and growth?

I work a lot with safeguarding – it comes with the territory of working with children and young people – and one of the hardest challenges I face as a parent is how to prepare my children for the dangers that I know are out there. We have regular conversations with our 10 year old, particularly about online videos or online gaming and chats, and I regularly say to him that it isn’t him that I don’t trust, but that there are people out there who pretend to be something or someone that they aren’t. As a parent I would rather keep him safely wrapped up in the bubble that is our family, keep the news about war, famine, violence and people who choose to do bad things away from him, but the reality is that if I do that then he doesn’t learn how to cope with those things and when he is suddenly thrust into the adult world and has to cope with what the world has to offer – good and bad – it becomes overwhelming.

Rites of passage are an important part of many cultures, particularly those around adolescence. In aboriginal tradition there is a symbolic journey which marks the “death” of childhood and the “rebirth” into the responsibility of adulthood and community. The Bar Mitzvah and Bat Mitzvah in Jewish tradition are an expression of children becoming young adults, in Latino culture there is a celebration for girls reaching puberty at age 15, known as the quinceañera, which is celebrated with mass as well as a party with symbolic dances and customs. In all of these examples, and the many others that exist around the world, there is a tradition of elders sharing their wisdom and teaching and accompanying young people as they take their role in the adult community.

The passage of Jesus in the wilderness is a familiar one which we use to mark the start of Lent each year. It follows on from the rite of baptism and marks Jesus’ transition into his role as leader and teacher. The Greek word which is often translated as ‘tempted’ can also be translated as ‘tested’. What Jesus faces in this time in the wilderness is a true test of his integrity. Will he use his power to satisfy his own needs? Will he show off how powerful and important he is by putting himself in danger? Will he abuse his position to gain wealth and glory? It is a well-documented dilemma that those in power often face. Will I use my power/wealth/voice/position to benefit my own interests or will I use it to advocate for others? Even though he is exhausted and hungry, Jesus doesn’t take the easy route. He comes through the trial demonstrating a secure sense of who he is and who he serves.

Just as Adam and Eve transition from innocence to knowledge and must then face the world outside the protection of Eden, just as Jesus transitions from his former life to being a leader and teacher, just as we transition from childhood and adolescence into adulthood, Lent gives us time to enter our own ‘wilderness’, our own journey of seeking and searching – ‘Who am I? What path do I follow? What is right vs what is easy or popular?’. Whether we are old or young, new or mature in our Christian faith, Lent gives us a chance to confront our inner demons and face up to the challenge of the choices we have made. Jesus reassures us that by seeking God’s loving guidance we don’t just journey alone and even these struggles can lead to growth.

Hymn – StF 531 – What a friend we have in Jesus

Prayers

Thank you, Lord, that it is never too late to turn around, never too late to start again.
Thank you that you have pulled us out of darkness into your marvellous light.
Thank you that though we are tempted, though we get things wrong, by your grace we are healed and restored.
Thank you that we are precious to you, that we know whose we are – we belong to you.
Thank you that your love for us is unconditional, we don’t have to prove anything.
And thank you that when we are tempted by the offerings of this world,
you are there to pick us up, wipe off the dust and set us back on the right path.
Thank you for the amazing love that you offer to each one of us.
Amen.

God of all, we turn to you today and ask for your help. We pray for wisdom to make right choices and right decisions in all things, to seek your truth and not be swayed by all that the world offers.
Steer us, Lord, in the way we should go.

We pray for those who are easily led astray and end up in situations and places that they struggle to get out of – especially those influenced by status, money, power, drugs and alcohol.
Steer us, Lord, in the way we should go.

We pray that world leaders will always seek justice, truth and wisdom in their decision making, and treat everybody as an equal, with fair opportunities for all.
Steer us, Lord, in the way we should go.
Amen.

Hymn – StF 481 – The Lord’s my Shepherd (I will trust in you alone)

Blessing

Let us go forth with the love of God surrounding us.
Let us go forth with the wisdom of God guiding us.
Let us go forth with our trust in God protecting us.
Amen.

Prayers taken from www.rootsontheweb.com

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