Morning Service for Trinity 10 2022

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Service

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August 30, 2022

I guess it’s all about what we think God wants from us – or perhaps what we want to give God. That was the problem that Jesus had with this leader of the synagogue. He was well versed in the way of the commandments and the practice of their interpretation, after all, hadn’t he grown up with them ringing in his ears. The commandments were, for him, the voice of God, the very will of God. Had he not been taught that when they were flouted disaster always followed – for the individual, the village, the nation? To heal was defined as work, it was not permitted on the Sabbath – it was not what God wanted, it would be against his commandments. It was in black and white what you could do on the Sabbath, if not in the Torah then in the Mishnah, the practical application of the Torah.

Morning Service for Trinity 10 2022

HYMN Bind us together – H&S 15

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together

with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, Lord,

bind us together in love.

1. There is only one God,

there is only one king.

There is only one body,

that is why we sing.

2. Fit for the glory of God,

purchased by his precious blood,

born with the right to be free:

Jesus the victory has won.

3. We are the family of God,

we are his promise divine,

we are his chosen desire,

we are the glorious new wine.

PRAYER OF PREPARATION
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen

PRAYERS OF PENITENCE

We recall our Lord’s command to love and in a moment of silence we confess

the many ways we fail to keep his command:

Most merciful God,

Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we confess that we have sinned
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may do justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen

May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE COLLECT

Let your merciful ears, O Lord,

be open to the prayers of your humble servants;

and that they may obtain their petitions

make them to ask such things as shall please you;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

FIRST READING – Jeremiah 1.4-10

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.”

But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.”

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

HYMN Amazing grace! – H&S 4

1. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now I’m found;

was blind, but now I see.

2. Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

and grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed.

3. Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come.

’Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

4. The Lord has promised good to me,

his word my hope secures;

he will my shield and portion be

as long as life endures.

5. When we’ve been there a thousand years,

bright shining as the sun,

we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

than when we first begun.

GOSPEL – Luke 13.10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

SERMON

I guess it’s all about what we think God wants from us – or perhaps what we want to give God.

That was the problem that Jesus had with this leader of the synagogue. He was well versed in the way of the commandments and the practice of their interpretation, after all, hadn’t he grown up with them ringing in his ears. The commandments were, for him, the voice of God, the very will of God. Had he not been taught that when they were flouted disaster always followed – for the individual, the village, the nation? To heal was defined as work, it was not permitted on the Sabbath – it was not what God wanted, it would be against his commandments. It was in black and white what you could do on the Sabbath, if not in the Torah then in the Mishnah, the practical application of the Torah.

The synagogue leader acted entirely in accordance with all that he had learnt and all that his conscience informed him. What he knew God wanted from him was obedience to the commandments. In a world of change and uncontrollable events, faced with disease, foreign occupation and mishap, the commandments were clear, and obedience to them was how he honoured his God.

But Jesus comes along and heals, he doesn’t wait until Sunday, he doesn’t wait until people have gone home, there and then during the Sabbath day service he deliberately flouts the known interpretation of the 4th commandment, “the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall do no work.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in the Torah, the first five books of our Old Testament, he quotes it often enough, it’s just that he disagrees with how it is used. It has become an end in itself. Jesus knows that the Law was created in order to provide for the people the benefits of order and justice, not reliant on the whim of a corruptible king, but based on the rule of God. But its purpose was intended to be the good of the people. What Jesus knew God wanted was not obedience to regulation for its own sake, but obedience to the controlling command, that ‘love is his word’ – love seen in generosity and giving, restoration and healing, encouragement and renewal. For Jesus that understanding of the will of God overwhelms all the detail of regulation and interpretation. And to make the point he heals on the Sabbath and upsets the man in charge.

Rules and regulations written in books are very comforting if you want to know what’s allowed and what’s not. And to live in society we need them – they protect the weak and control the power of the strong. But Jesus separates the needs of Society for regulation and order from the quest to follow the will of God. He doesn’t argue that the Sabbath should be like any other day; he argues that caring for his people is a proper expression of how God wants us to act on any and every day of the week.

But if we can’t rely on the rules to show us the will of God how will we know what to do?

Our OT reading today is the first in a series of readings from the book of the prophet Jeremiah. It is the longest book in the Bible and one of the most significant. In a sense Jeremiah provided something of a marker for the life of Jesus and the theology of Jesus. The same insistence that change and destruction was inevitable – that people had lost their way, particularly the rich and powerful – that from the ashes of disaster new ways would be found – but also that God would not desert his people – that hope was real.

Jeremiah lived at a time when Israel was threatened with complete extinction, the ruling people of power were making disastrous political decisions and he could see that the end was inevitable. But what he did was to put his warnings into a theological context; the collapse would be as a result of Israel’s failure to respond its God. But the re-growth, the new life of the nation would be as a result of the response of God to Israel’s failure.

Jeremiah, seeing the end in sight, prepared for it by sowing seeds of a new beginning. And he talked of a day when words of holy law in holy books would not be necessary because people would be governed by what God would write in their hearts. In giving his people the hope of a new future within the will and purposes of God, Jeremiah gave them something to cling to when they sat down by the waters of Babylon and wept.

So what can we make of all this? That we can educate our mind, worry about all the words, but it is what is written on our hearts that counts – what directs us from within – that will make a difference. But teaching our hearts – that’s no easy thing. Perhaps only God can do that, but one thing’s for sure, he’ll only do that if we give him the opportunity.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the scriptures;
he was buried; he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles: this we have received,
and this we believe. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15.3-7

HYMN The Lord’s my Shepherd (Townend) H&S 91

1. The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;

he makes me lie in pastures green,

he leads me by the still, still waters,

his goodness restores my soul.

And I will trust in you alone,

and I will trust in you alone,

for your endless mercy follows me,

your goodness will lead me home.

2. He guides my ways in righteousness,

and he anoints my head with oil;

and my cup – it overflows with joy,

I feast on his pure delights.

Chorus

3. And though I walk the darkest path –

I will not fear the evil one,

for you are with me, and your rod and staff

are the comfort I need to know.

Chorus

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Christine Hill

Dear God we come before you in this time of prayer to give you thanks for all you have done for us. We thank you for the cool of the morning, for the power of the sun and for the beauty of our countryside. Help us to be aware of your presence and hear your voice and make us always ready to obey and do your will.