(All our songs this morning are from Mission Praise (MP). Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our Circuit and with the congregation at Allerton Methodist Church, and led by Jackie Marshall, one of our Circuit Local Preachers.
Click on the blue links to follow them for Bible readings and associated links
We’ll begin with a responsive call to worship. We’re going to remind ourselves of God’s Good News for us. Perhaps you would like to read it aloud, repeating Hallelujah – as if you mean it!
This is the Good News;
God, who created everything, loves us as his children.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Jesus, God’s own Son, lived, died and lives again to save us from our selfish ways.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
His Spirit is with us today and every day, to guide, strengthen, help and heal us.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Amen
We celebrate that Good News as we read, sing or, if you are able, view on YouTube, our first song.
Song – MP 532 Oh! Oh! Oh! How good is the Lord
Let’s pray together.
Lord God,
Creator, Deliverer, Redeemer, Provider, Healer.
All these wonderful, strong words
yet no words can fully describe all that you are.
Lord, we want to praise and worship you now.
We offer everything we say and do, the songs we sing and the silences we share this morning to your glory and in Jesus’ name as we say together the prayer he teaches his friends.
Our Father who art in heaven;
Hallowed be Thy Name;
Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation; But deliver us from evil;
For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen
A question for the Junior Church at Allerton. I have a bag of lollies and sweets. Being such lovely, polite, well-mannered young people, what would they say to me if I gave them to their Junior Church leaders for them to share in their session this morning? They’d all say thank you, wouldn’t they – they would thank me just for a few sweets.
In complete contrast, in one of the Bible readings we will share a little later in the service we are told about ten people whom Jesus healed from an absolutely horrible skin disease called leprosy. Guess how many said thank you?
In those days, leprosy was so feared that anyone affected was banned from having any contact at all with other people, so catching the disease meant losing your family, your home and your livelihood. Lepers lived outside towns and villages, surviving on scraps of food left out for them and very, very few ever got better. It was the job of the local priest to examine people for signs of leprosy, so once Jesus had healed the ten lepers, he told them to go and see the priest to be declared free from disease – or “clean” as it was described.
Only one came back to thank him.
Just one out of ten.
But when we think about it, although we might be good at saying thank you to each other, are we always as good at saying thank you to God? Everything we have, everything we are, is from him, but do we sometimes take his blessings for granted? Jesus gave his life to make us “clean,” to free us from the consequences of our selfishness – are we like the one leper who said thank you, or the nine who didn’t?
Does anyone know the British Sign Language sign for “Thank you”? Rose Ayling-Ellis, who won Strictly Come Dancing last year, used the sign often.
It looks a little like blowing a kiss.
When we thank people, we are showing them the loving respect of the kind that Jesus was talking about when he said we must love our neighbours.
And when we thank God, we show him that we love him and remember all that he has done for us.
Let’s do just that as we share our next song,
Song – MP 170/StF 78 Give thanks with a grateful heart
Before that gospel passage telling the full story of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed, we travel back almost a thousand years before Jesus was born to hear about someone else who was healed of leprosy:
That Bible passage begins with the king of Israel worried sick that the forces of Aram were looking for an excuse to escalate their raiding parties to capture slaves into all out warfare. Yet it ends with the commander of the king of Aram’s army declaring his belief that the God of Israel is the one and only God in the whole world! We echo Naaman’s words with those of our next hymn
Song – MP 404/StF 57 – Let all the world in every corner sing
And now for St Luke’s account of Jesus’ encounter with that group of ten lepers as he journeyed towards Jerusalem for the last time. The reading is followed by a poem reflecting on the story.
Poem: Only one …
Where are the nine?
We are here, but not within thanking distance.
At least, not for you.
Of course, we are glad that we are no longer untouchable, cast out by society.
Of course, we are grateful that we no longer bear the scars of our ills.
Of course, we realise that we didn’t do this on our own
But we’re well now.
We can hold our heads up high.
We can get back to where we belong,
or even have the freedom to move on wherever we feel inclined to go.
We are totally different people.
And although others may wonder at the change in us,
ask questions, or stare at us in disbelief,
we have nothing to fear for we are free of the past
and no festering corruption can hold us back any more.
We haven’t got time to turn back.
There’s too much to celebrate.
You may have been the agent of our change, but we don’t need you now.
Who are you, anyway?
And where’s that fool who hasn’t the sense to come with us?
©Marjorie Dobson
Next, we hear from a letter St Paul wrote from prison in Rome to encourage his dear friend and co-worker for Christ, Timothy, at a time of escalating persecution from the Romans under the infamous Emperor Nero and increasing squabbles and divisions within the fledgling churches Paul and Timothy had helped to establish.
2 Timothy 2: 8 – 15 from The Message.
8-13 Fix this picture firmly in your mind: Jesus, descended from the line of David, raised from the dead. It’s what you’ve heard from me all along. It’s what I’m sitting in jail for right now—but God’s Word isn’t in jail! That’s why I stick it out here—so that everyone God calls will get in on the salvation of Christ in all its glory. This is a sure thing:
If we die with him, we’ll live with him;
If we stick it out with him, we’ll rule with him;
If we turn our backs on him, he’ll turn his back on us;
If we give up on him, he does not give up—
for there’s no way he can be false to himself.
14-15 Repeat these basic essentials over and over to God’s people. Warn them before God against pious nitpicking, which chips away at the faith. It just wears everyone out. Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple.
So, what can we learn from our three Bible passages that is relevant for us today? Perhaps the first lesson is a reminder of how wide and inclusive God’s love is! Namaan was a powerful, wealthy, influential man, the key commander of a foreign army that was hostile to Israel and it obviously didn’t occur to the king of Israel that “their” God would look on Namaan with favour, yet through the prophet Elisha, God healed him. Then in the Gospel passage, Jesus healed the ten lepers, already pitiful outcasts at completely the opposite end of the social scale to Namaan. We so easily fall into the trap of thinking God belongs to us and should think and act in ways that we think are best, rather than remembering we belong to him, that he is immeasurably wiser than us and that he values each and every person equally and infinitely.
We’ve already reflected on the theme of thankfulness this morning, but maybe it’s also worth us keeping in mind that cultivating a thankful attitude is one of the steps recommended by modern psychologists towards developing a positive outlook on life. Apparently, being thankful is good for us as well as being good for those around us. And maybe it shouldn’t come as any surprise that Jesus knew all about what was best for us 2000 years ago!
Another theme that runs through the story of Namaan and St Paul’s instructions to Timothy is to avoid overcomplicating our religion. We get the idea that initially, Namaan is really annoyed that the instructions given him by Elisha are so mundane – go a take a bath in a river? But when, probably through sheer desperation, Namaan humbles himself enough to do as Elisha has instructed him, he is made well. And Namaan is wise enough to recognise that it was his act of obedience to God, rather than the river water, that enabled his healing.
Then, in his letter to Timothy, St Paul warns how off-putting what he terms “pious nitpicking” is, exhorting Timothy to keep telling the good news about Jesus in plain and simple terms and to just concentrate on doing his best for God. May we do the same.
God loves us.
Jesus died to rescue us.
The Holy Spirit lives with us.
This, this is the Good News. Hallelujah!
Song – MP 683/StF 416 – There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father,
the One God, who is Love,
the source of all grace, hope, joy, healing
and the Peace that passes all understanding,
we give you our wholehearted thanks.
Thank you for all we are and for all we have,
for we know everything comes from you.
Forgive us when we forget your wonder and majesty,
when we lose our sense of awe and try to make you in our image,
limiting you with our human imagination.
Forgive us for the many times when we think we know best
and ignore your way of love, hurting others and ourselves
with our words, our deeds or our lack of care.
Silence
Thank you, Father, that because of Jesus we can know that we are forgiven our mistakes
and that you will never, ever stop loving us.
Help us do our best for you,
sharing the Good News and helping your kingdom grow,
especially when we encounter difficulties and doubt creeps in.
Help us to love our neighbours near and far, sharing your gifts freely and fairly
and doing all that we can to promote justice and peace.
We pray for the many people around the world who lack even the basic necessities of life, food, clean water and somewhere safe to sleep, and ask your blessing on the work of the aid agencies and organisations that are trying to help, often under very challenging and even dangerous circumstances.
We pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those who are sharing our worship from home this morning and those worldwide who suffer persecution for their faith. May we not take our own religious freedom for granted.
We pray for world leaders and all who are in positions of authority, asking that you will give them wisdom, integrity and compassion. We think particularly of President Putin and ask that you will open his mind and heart to the folly, inhumanity and injustice of his current course of action.
We pray for all who are sick, sad or anxious, asking your healing, your comfort, your hope and your Peace.
And finally, in a moment of quiet, we bring before you those known to each of us who are in special need of prayer.
Silence
Thanking you, Father God, for the privilege of coming to you in prayer,
we offer these and all our prayers in the precious name of Jesus,
Amen
We round off our time of worship by joining in our final song.
Song – MP 486/StF 81 – Now thank we all our God
May the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God
and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore,
Amen
Credits: Copyrighted items downloaded from The Worship Cloud theworshipcloud.com with permission to use in local services of worship.
