Parish of Westborough – Guildford

Easter 4- 3.5.2020 Using Acts 2. 41-47 and 1 Pet 2. 18-25
The psalm set for today, number 23, and is certainly appropriate for our current situation.
If someone decided to paraphrase this Psalm in a way that was set for these current days they may well put verse: 4 Even when I walk through the valley of Corona Virus I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. When this is all over, and the historians and statisticians start to analyze this period, I suspect it will emerge that people of faith (any faith) were among those who dealt with it best.
Why? Because a person of faith knows they are not alone in facing struggles.
The reading from Acts 2. 41-47 (NIV) also has significance for today
The Fellowship of Believers
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
It talks about the early church and how they met together both in the temple and at home. Today we can’t meet in the temple, but look what has happened. The Church, has stopped being the ancient building in the town centre and has gone back to where it all started; in peoples homes.
My friend sent me something on Facebook about this. It showed Satan and Christ having a discussion. Satan tells Jesus something like “With corona virus I have closed all your churches”. And Jesus replies Wrong! I have opened one in every home. With the help of social media, television and video (good old zoom) conferencing software, the church has indeed opened in many homes. I suspect that will not simply cease once lockdown has ceased.
Another line in the reading from Acts that really caught my eye was this that you to may have noticed –
“They worshiped together… all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people.”
It has been a long time since Christians could claim to enjoy the goodwill of all the people. But we are seeing good will again even if it isn’t for the church. What we are seeing is that select groups of people are enjoying the goodwill of the vast majority of us.
We see it when whole streets or whole blocks of flats join together to applaud those working tirelessly to save us. It started with health workers but it has grown to include all essential workers. ‘Essential worker’ has almost always meant members of the emergency services, but this current situation has broadened that definition and rightly so. I can’t possibly list all who are now seen as essential, but the definition has grown to include bin collectors, delivery drivers, shop workers and many more.
This situation has shown us just how essential a whole host of people are; people who were previously invisible. When they were visible many often looked down on them.
I read in the paper the other day where a bin collector in Burnley Lancashire a 3 year old and his family stood at their window and applauded the bin men as they collected the families rubbish,
Other reports had one refuse collector say ‘how suddenly they are no longer invisible.
They are spoken to, they are applauded and they are appreciated. He said that in all his years as a bin-man this never happened and people only spoke to him to curse him for holding them up. Times have changed – may the NEVER go back.
The reading from St. Peter’s letter was originally addressed to slaves, advising them on their behaviour. 1 Peter 2:18-25 (NIV)
18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,”[b] but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Hardly relevant today is it? Or, is it?
Yes slavery still exists, but in most parts it has all but disappeared from western society.
So is this part of Peter’s letter relevant? Yes I think it is because the people today, who might be equated with slaves of the past, are that vast army of menial workers paid minimum wage (or less) with zero hour contracts and generally treated like… slaves.
And yet many of this group have been wonderfully elevated in our eyes to people worthy of applause.
The other reason this reading from St. Peter applies , even to you and me, is that in many translations the word slave is substituted with servant. And we are all servants in one way or another; so Peter’s words apply. He advises us “if you’re treated badly for good behaviour and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.” (1 Pet 2.20 MSG)
What he is saying here is do your best under all circumstances and you will please God. This is essentially what Jesus was telling us in The Beatitudes; go the extra mile, give more than expected and even turn the other cheek. And during this current world crisis so many are doing just that. They are excellent servants in spite of the hardship – they are going the extra mile – they are giving much more than expected. They rightly deserve our applause.
Perhaps we should stop for a moment, reflect ……
Our readings are not just some words written for people of the past, they are as alive today and will be until the Lord returns….
When it all goes back to normal how can you, how can I ensure that we don’t go back to the old normal.
FIRST: Let’s continue to be like the early church described by St. Luke.
Let’s us remember as much as we love the church of St Francis, let us remember.
The building It is not the church –as much as we appreciate it, BUT we are – wherever we meet be it at home, in the shops, the village hall or wherever, we are the church.
SECOND: Now that so many previously invisible, yet always essential, people are visible and appreciated let’s continue to give our applause and appreciation. They do those essential jobs that many wouldn’t even consider doing.
In the past how much did we notice them, how much did we value them. Let’s follow St. Paul’s advice “Don’t… be conceited. Instead, humbly think of others as being better than yourselves.”
At least consider them all equal; that is how God considers each of us.
AMEN

A Hope and A Challenge, Easter 5-20, using Psalm 31 and John 14 1-14
That reading from John’s gospel is a very familiar one and is often heard at funerals because of the hope that it contains; Jesus going ahead to prepare a place for us.
Jesus is going to prepare a place for us, is a message that is given at many funerals of Christians.
It reminds me of a curate that I trained in a previous parish, setting out to conduct his first solo funerals.
He was asked to conduct a funeral, but the nearest family member of the deceased lived in Yorkshire, not being able to meet them face-to-face he had to make all the arrangements for the order of service by telephone, choosing hymns, the readings, name for those to be mentioned during prayers, and some information about the life of the deceased.
On this particular occasion Dan had written one of the readings incorrectly, he had written down: Psalm 14.1-6.
For those who are unfamiliar with that particular reading is starts out
“The fool says in his heart ‘there is no god”, he was somewhat taken aback, he asked me, “how am I going to preach on that, especially as the deceased was not a self confession believer!
Before tackling his question, I suggested he make a courteous call checking that all the information given thus far was correct and asking if they were satisfied with their choices.
Thank goodness he did, he realized should have written down JOHN 14.1-6. And not Psalm 14.1-6
That one mistake had quite an effect on him, not only did he double check everything before hand but he has since that day linked Psalm 14 and John 14 together.
Why?
In Johns Gospel Jesus is telling his disciples that he is going ahead to prepare a place for them so He would be with them forever.
What an amazing Promise, even if they didn’t fully understand it, it is an amazing promise and a promise made to all who believe and trust in him and an hope for each of us to cling to. But it is only a hope for the person of faith; it is meaningless to the ‘fool’ who says there is no god.
The Psalm, as with all the Psalms are written by someone who has a deep faith in God – no fool here.
He started off telling God that he claims refuge in His presence and then actually makes that commitment saying “Into your hands I commit my spirit” (Ps 31.5)
It is a reminder and a challenged for all of us who acknowledge that God is real should also make that commitment. But I believe that that commitment is not just a one off, I think it is a daily choice.
You may remember Joshua telling the People of Israel “choose today whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24.15)
For our faith to remain strong each day we must make that choice – how many times to we wake up and if were honest – God doesn’t always get chosen; sometimes I choose to serve ourselves instead.
Easy to do in challenging times. In times when we are worried about what is going on around us, about our circumstances, we get so focused on the day by day challenges, that it becomes more about ‘what I want’ ‘what I can do’ (or not is some cases) that God is not always as the fore of our mind and acknowledging our need and reliance on him gets somehow lost, or remains somewhere in the background.
Each day we should as Joshua says, ‘choose today’ –this day – “whom you will serve”
Making that conscious choice, we should place ourselves into his hands.
When we do that, then the hope provided by Jesus, as recorded by St. John, becomes our hope as well. And with the world in its current state we would do well to commit not only ourselves, but the whole situation into God’s hands because only his hands are big enough.
Today’s reading focus on A Hope and A Challenge.
We know where our hope lies And the challenge…
The challenge come in the final verse of our Gospel reading John 14 verse 14,
Jesus telling us “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
This statement is certainly hopeful but it can also be extremely challenging.
Why the challenge? Because often the prayers we have said in Jesus’ name have seemingly gone unanswered. Maybe it’s just me who finds this to be the case, but I don’t think so.
The psalmist certainly knows the truth about prayer. Often his prayers were answered and we hear him praising God saying things like “Praise the LORD! For he has heard my cry for mercy” (Psalm 28.6) But we also often hear the psalmist complaining about unanswered prayer saying things like “O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way?” (Psalm 13.1) Prayer can be challenging, especially when Jesus seems to tell us “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Going back to the current world situation I have no doubt that countless prayers have been heard and answered favourably, much to the delight of those involved. But equally I have no doubt that countless prayers have seemingly been unanswered, much to the grief of those involved. And I fear that some who have experienced unanswered prayer in this time of extreme need may turn away from God.
So what do we do about this hope that can also be challenging?
 First of all we should choose every day to serve God and we should place ourselves, our friends, family, neighbours and community into his hands every day.
 Second we can do is take Jesus at his word; he tells us “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.”
In other words, trust Him. We don’t see things clearly, we see them through the filter of our problems which can distort things. St. Paul put it like this “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror.” (1 Cor 13.15)
But God sees the whole picture in perfect clarity, so let’s trust him.
 Thirdly keep on praying and a part of this has to do with trust as well. When a prayer seemingly is being ignored it’s OK to ask God why and how long will you ignore me. But alongside that be sure to praise and thank him for the many times he has answered you. The more we pray, the more we will see God’s goodness and the greater will be our trust in him. And trust in God is essential to surviving these current times.
So ignore those who the bible would call fools we encounter on the internet and social media who claim there is no god.
We know differently, we know the truth of his promise and the hope we all have. This hymn says it best: Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided, great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! AMEN

Pleas click on the link below to follow our service of you can use the slides in our Zoom meeting on Sunday

sundayremoteservice_1052020

Dear Parents,

Care for the family have produced this helpful document as the Coronavirus keeps us in lock down. I am sure you are being very creative but anyone who has or has children know, it is hard work at the best of times to keep our children occupied,  but even more challenging  during extended periods at home and away from their normal routine, that is why I have put this on our web site but also sending it to each of you as an encouragement.

May God bless you and your little ones in abundance as we continue to support each other through this time.

Helping children adjust to a ‘new normal’

As parents, many of us will be struggling to manage our own feelings about the coronavirus pandemic, let alone feel we can cope with talking about it to our children. Here, national charity Care for the Family give their tips on how to talk to young people about life in this ‘new normal’, and how to help them to deal with difficult feelings that may arise. 

Click here for the full article

Please feel free to use our service sheets and prayer guides to be used at home in this time of isolation.

Click on a link below to open a document to read or print

Maundy Thursday

Good Friday Act of witness

Easter Sunday Service Sheet

Learn about the stations of the cross click on the link below

Stationsofthecross

Each Friday during Lent, many churches invite the faithful to attend the Stations of the Cross – to pray through 14 key events on the day of Christ’s crucifixion as a way to “walk with our Lord” on his way to Golgotha.

Normally we would visit each of the stations in church to pray, but due to our current circumstances another way the Stations of the Cross is to pray it in your home as a family. We found this fabulous article on how to do this at home.

First, get Stations of the Cross pictures from the document above

Next, hang the pictures with paper clips or clothes pins around your house.When done, all 14 Stations of the Cross are hanging in the living room, dining room, etc. Finally, wait until the sun goes down, and then turn off the lights and take out a flashlight!

The children can take turns shining the light on each station as they pray and walk their own little Via Dolorosa — the road Jesus walked as he carried His cross to Golgotha.

A short act of worship has been produced for you if you are unable to attend church

Click on image above to open booklet

Also find a night worship link below

Night Worship Prayer

Happy Mothers day to you all

I had just about finished a sermon for tomorrow when I was informed that Bishop Jo had put on the diocese website for all to hear, if you would like to hear it direct, as we dont get the opportunity very often to hear a bishop preach I decided to put mine on hold and inform you of this. however (thanks to Sarah who turned it into a word document.)I have attached a copy for you to read and a link to the video, may your day be wonderful tomorrow, even with the very wise restrictions placed on us.

Lets praise God together by doing morning Prayer and if possible light a candle for your window an praying for Gods light to shine in these challenging times

God bless you, my brothers and sisters.

Stefanie & Diane

Bishop Jo has recorded a short message sermon for Mothering Sunday.

“I write this with special love and prayers to those who are anxious for self-isolating mothers and for those mothers cooped up with their children, anxious about how to manage over coming weeks. Jesus’ words from the cross to his mother and the beloved disciple – committing each to belong and care for the other in the new family in Christ’s body (John 19:26-27)– make ever more sense. Open our eyes, O Lord, that we may behold all whom you present to be our mothers, brothers, children in these extraordinary times.” Bishop Jo

Bishop Jo’s Sermon for Mothering Sunday can be foundhere

Document here