wednesday focus

25 June - Enlarged and enlightened

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work

2 Corinthians 9

God our Father, Lord of all the world,
through your Son you have called us into the fellowship
of your universal Church:
hear our prayer for your faithful people
that in their vocation and ministry
each may be an instrument of your love,
and give to your servants now to be ordained
the needful gifts of grace;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Prayer from the start of the Ordination service

You cannot bear the weight of this calling in your own strength, but only by the grace and power of God. Pray therefore that your heart may daily be enlarged and your understanding of the Scriptures enlightened.

Pray earnestly for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The Bishop’s prayer immediately prior to ordaining deacons

This weekend many people will be ordained deacon. The service at which this happens is filled with many words. But all through it the idea comes time and again that without God’s grace no-one can serve him. The service starts with prayer for everyone’s vocation, not just the ordained.

No matter what we do or who we are, Christian service is a matter of God’s grace at work in us. That extends way beyond what we do as church and includes every ‘vocation’ we can imagine: plumber, council worker, teacher, stockbroker, police officer, homebuilder, volunteer, shop assistant, manager, writer….all must be lived in the grace of God. And the good news is that he is able and willing to give it, if we ask.

Pray today that:

• The vocation of all our church members would be rooted in God’s grace, remember those who face tough time at work or in voluntary organisations.
  
• That leaders, volunteers, staff, and all would know what it is to receive ‘the needful gifts of grace’, have our hearts ‘enlarged’, and understanding of the Bible ‘enlightened.’ All this by the power and grace of God.

Winners and Losers?

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Matthew 19

In our world being a winner is important. ‘Loser’ is a term of abuse or amusement. We are encouraged to achieve more, compete more, to ‘go for it’ in every way.

Perhaps we see it best in our reality-TV driven and celebrity-obsessed culture. We’re all exhorted to try and win in every way. Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent, The Apprentice, or Dragon’s Den all offer us the idea that if you try hard enough you can be first. Our society aspires to meritocracy, where people are rewarded for their effort. We can all be winners now.

So the words of Jesus seem the wrong way round. They jar our ears. Surely that’s not fair, that’s all wrong? What’s wrong with being first, with making an effort?  Of course Jesus is not against hard effort, especially where it is aimed at holiness. But grace offers us something different than just getting what we deserve. God’s grace works on a very different basis to phone voting.

The problem with the promises of our culture is that although the Lottery or any of the TV shows can be great entertainment, they’re certainly not reality. Only one act can win and most people will be sorely disappointed. Even worse, the Lottery gets you hooked by offering you the same false chance every game and week: ‘it might just be me this week’. It’s false hope that offers no power to live a better life now, and certainly won’t deliver for most of us in the future.

In fact although we want a meritocracy where people are rewarded for their effort the consumer market can never deliver it. CEO’s are paid eye-wateringly large sums of money, while nurses get just enough to scrape by. Who makes more effort, the one wiping the bottom or the one dining at the Ritz?

It’s only in following the radical way of Jesus and his grace that we can be changed now and find real hope for the future. God’s goodness is for all, regardless of where you start in life. God’s goodness is open to all, no matter what your bank balance.

As all our churches prepare to think about stewardship and giving God says ’whatever you give in time, energy, money, resources, love, tears, listening, practical service and the rest, it will never be a loss.’ God’s love will fulfil what we truly need now (to be unconditionally loved and given a purpose in this life) and in the future (hope that death will never have the last word).

That kind of hope brings freedom from the false and disappointing offers of today’s world. So be encouraged, being a follower is much more important than being a winner, or loser. And with God the impossible, becomes possible. 

Almighty God,
in whose service lies perfect freedom:
teach us to obey you
with loving hearts and steadfast wills;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Loving each other enough?

Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
James 5:20

They are to be messengers, watchmen and stewards of the Lord; they are to teach and to admonish, to feed and provide for his family, to search for his children in the wilderness of this world’s temptations, and to guide them through its confusions, that they may be saved through Christ for ever. Formed by the word, they are to call their hearers to repentance and to declare in Christ's name the absolution and forgiveness of their sins.
The Ordination Service

How much do we love each other? What would be the greatest sign of love for a fellow church member: looking after their children, giving them money, praying for them, or as the TV advert used to say, giving them your last Rolo!

One of the most difficult, but greatest, expressions of love the New Testament talks about is when we challenge, guide and support each other out of sin towards wholeness. Ii was difficult in the world of James and Jesus and no less so in our privatised world where so often religion is personal and unaccountable. To many it seems judgemental, critical, embarrassing, and simply impossible.

But the Bible tells us of the amazing things which flow from the willingness to confront sin in ourselves and others. Wholeness, new life and even salvation can flow from loving someone enough to challenge their sin. Of course it must be done with gentleness and humility (1 Cor 4:21, 2 Cor 10:1, Gal 5:23, Eph 4:2, 1 Thess 2:7, 1 Pet 3:15).

Strangely, those caught in sin are often trapped in a private hell and long for someone to reach in and help, even though that would be painful. But too often pride or a misplaced feeling that we will offend conspire to stop that gentle word of encouragement to follow Jesus more.

This is beautifully summed up in the charge we give to those being ordained, but it’s also for all God’s people. We should all ‘search for God’s children in the wilderness of this worlds temptations and guide them through.’

Do we love our fellow Christians enough to pray and act to help each other away from sin?

Of course it starts with us, so here’s an ancient prayer from Lancelot Andrews:

Give me a heart, which may love thee with so true, faithful, and constant affection, as that nothing under the sun may separate me from the love of thee. Let me not follow the love of the world, or delight in the vanities of it any longer: but give me power to kill and quench all other love and desires, and to love thee only, desire thee only, and only think of thee, and thy commandments: that all my affections and thoughts may be fixed on thee; that in all temptations and adversities, I may have recourse to thee only, and receive all comfort from thee alone, who livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

Today we also remember the ministry of Barnabas, who kept others from sin by encouragement:

Bountiful God, giver of all gifts,
who poured your Spirit upon your servant Barnabas
and gave him grace to encourage others:
help us, by his example,
to be generous in our judgements
and unselfish in our service;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
Amen.

Too much like hard work?

The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it,
       the world, and all who live in it

Psalm 24:1

Often we are challenged in church to respond in commitment to God. It’s a good thing to do. But sometimes it can simply feel like we are being asked for more and more: more effort, more money, more time, more work. We speak the language of God’s will and God’s grace, but live the life of our effort and work.

So where does our working response to God find its place? At the heart of our responding to God must first be the understanding that God is sovereign. Everything, as Psalm 24 says, ‘belongs to God’. We don’t work, or give, or worship to create something for ourselves. We do those things to respond to what God, in his love, has already given. It is not all down to us to build, or rescue, or create the church. It’s God’s world and his church.

•    The people you will meet today: they are God’s.
•    The office you work in today: it is God’s.
•    The organisation you will be with today: is accountable to God.
•    The sin that will hurt you today: can only be redeemed by God.
•    The joy you will experience today: comes from God.

To know that ‘the earth is the Lord’s’ set’s us in the right direction in working and relating to his world and his people. It offers freedom from the burden of ultimate responsibility, but also the chance to make a real difference as we work and live in God’s love and power.

•    How does that truth affect your attitude to work or people today?
•    Where do you need to know that God is the one ‘in charge’?

So this well known prayer is not so much an exaltation to more hard work, but an acknowledgment of who God is…

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
Put me to doing; put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
Exalted for you, or brought low for you;

Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it.

And the covenant made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.