(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, this week comes courtesy of The Vine at Home and Twelve Baskets
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Opening Prayers
God is everywhere,
In this space and all spaces
In this time and all times.
God is waiting to meet you and is ready to welcome you
Just as it has been for all eternity,
So be still.
Pause
Get ready to notice the spirit working,
Through words on the page,
Through sounds around you,
Through familiar and unfamiliar smells,
Through all that you see when you look up from what you are reading,
Through the touch of your hands as you hold them together to pray,
So be still.
Pause
If you feel able speak aloud the following words:
God of all time and space I notice you here.
I am ready.
Amen
You may now wish to say the Lord’s Prayer in a version or translation with which
you are familiar.
Reading:
Matthew 18:15-20
Responding to the reading
Relationships are rarely simple.
Even among people who love one another, misunderstandings happen. We say the wrong
thing. We make assumptions. We cause hurt, sometimes knowingly, often unknowingly.
Jesus knows this, and that is why this passage is so refreshingly realistic. He does not
imagine a community where conflict never happens. Instead, he imagines a community
that knows how to respond when it does.
His first instruction is remarkably personal:
“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two
of you are alone.”
This is not an invitation to gossip, nor cause public embarrassment, but neither is it about
quietly nursing resentment. Rather, Jesus begins with honest conversation.
There is something deeply respectful about that. It assumes that every person deserves
the dignity of being spoken to directly rather than talked about behind their back.
Of course, Jesus also knows that reconciliation is not always straightforward. Sometimes
relationships cannot be repaired immediately. Sometimes deeper wounds require wider
support. Sometimes healthy boundaries are necessary.
Throughout this passage, however, the goal is never punishment; the goal is always
restoration. That matters, because churches have not always got this right. Too often,
difficult conversations have been avoided until resentment grows, or conflict has been
handled in ways that shame rather than heal.
Jesus points us towards another way: a way of courage, a way of truth spoken with
compassion, a way that values people more than winning arguments.
Then come some of the most beautiful words in the Gospel:
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
We often hear these words at prayer meetings or small gatherings, and rightly so. But in
their original context, they come in the middle of a conversation about reconciliation.
Perhaps Jesus is saying something profound. Christ is especially present whenever
people gather with humility, seeking understanding, healing, and peace. Not because
agreement is easy, but because love is willing to do the difficult work of listening, of
disagreeing, of holding the space for tension and reconciliation. This passage reminds us
that discipleship is not about avoiding conflict, it is about learning how to disagree without
losing our humanity.
Here, Jesus calls us to speak honestly without cruelty, to listen generously without
surrendering our convictions, to seek reconciliation without pretending that wounds do not
matter.
Above all, it reminds us that God’s presence is found not only in worship and prayer, but in
every sincere effort to restore relationship and build community.
So today, you might like to reflect on these questions:
- Is there a conversation you have been avoiding that might benefit from honesty and
- grace? —
- Where do you need to listen more carefully before reaching a conclusion?
- How might you become someone who helps build peace rather than deepen
- division?
The Church is not called to be a community without disagreement. It is called to be a
community that learns, however imperfectly, to love one another through disagreement.
And perhaps, in these divisive and difficult times, that may be one of the most powerful
witnesses we can offer the world.
This week, may you have the courage to speak truth with kindness, the humility to listen
with an open heart, and the wisdom to become a maker of peace. And may you discover,
again and again, that Christ is already present wherever people gather in love, seeking
reconciliation and hope. Amen.
Song – STF 36 – There’s a quiet understanding
Blessing
May you go from this place, knowing that the God of reconciliation and healing goes with
you.
May you step out in faith, seeking to play your part in bringing restoration to a broken
world.
May you know a deep healing, within yourself, that holds and binds you with love, a love
that passes all comprehension or logical possibility.
May you know the Christ, this and every day.
Amen.
