Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity 2021

 

Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity 2021

Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14, 15, 21-23

This Sunday’s Gospel is a passage from the Gospel According to Mark. At face value, it appears to recount a confrontation between the Pharisees, who are hung up on rules, and Jesus, who advocates personal choice. But if we take a second glance, look beneath the surface, that might not be what is going on after all.

It is worth noting that the Pharisees have not come looking for a fight. They have come, a distance, to see Jesus, exploring the idea that this might be one sent by God. And when they witness Jesus’ disciples doing something that causes them cognitive dissonance—if this man is from God, why are his disciples flouting the rules?—they ask Jesus for clarification. On all counts, we would do well to learn from them.

Jesus responds by calling them hypocrites. Literally, people who wear masks, face masks. Actors, playing a part. But not a word that necessarily carries the negative value judgement that it has come to convey since.

The conversation centres on the idea of ‘defilement’—koine, literally making something common, stripping it of its specialness, its sacredness. And here it is worth noting that the entire of the New Testament was written in defiled Greek, koine Greek, as opposed to high, classical Greek. Written in the common tongue, of Gentiles and Jews, of the common people.

The Pharisees ask, why do your disciples eat in the way that is common of all the surrounding peoples, and not in the way that marks us Jews as set apart? The Jewish laws concerning hygiene were inspired, and deeply practical. Centuries later, when bubonic plague swept through Europe, Jewish hygiene observance kept them safe—set apart—from the devastating loss of lives suffered by their Gentile neighbours. Why forsake that kind of literally life-saving practice?

That’s when Jesus calls them hypocrites—mask-wearers—not because of the rules they kept, but because the outward observance or appearance was not aligned with their inward attitude. Though their actions were aligned with the wisdom of God, as shared with humanity, their hearts were not aligned with the heart of God towards humanity.

Jesus goes on to make it clear that nothing that goes into a person can defile them, can strip them of their specialness, their sacredness. But what comes out of them can.

Nothing that goes into a person can strip them of their God-given specialness. Not even a virus. This weekend, I stepped in to cover a wedding that was supposed to have been taken by another vicar in the deanery, who, the day before, had discovered that he had Covid. He is presently unable to do the things he is set apart to do; but Covid does not negate his vocation. And even if, in the most extreme of instances, Covid should kill us, it cannot separate us from the love of God.

That said, what comes out of us can defile us. The belief that we are more important than others, that we can act with impunity, exercising our rights in our self-interest, without concern for our neighbours.

Until recently here in the UK, it was legally mandatory to wear a mask in public, for the common good, in a pandemic. Since then, the rules have changed. The law has been stripped of its special status, its sacredness. Now it is down to the individual to exercise their own judgement, their freedom of conscience, to wear a mask or not according to their own personal choice. Under such circumstances, what ought we to do? At the wedding I took, for my friend who had Covid, not one of the sixty + guests chose to wear a mask.

It should be clear by now that we cannot simply read off what to do by how we read a particular passage from the Bible. What such a passage might do, however, is help us to navigate complex and confusing circumstances, from a faith perspective.

We continue, for now, to wear masks when we gather, out of love for our neighbour. But masks are not enough. The outward expression must be in line with our heart, which in turn must seek to be in line with God’s heart. If we wear a mask, but despise those who don’t, we miss the mark. We might protect them from Covid, but not from the virus of our hatred. We wear a mask, and sanitise our hands, and keep our distance, for the common (koine) good of a defiled (koine) people.

On the other hand, to refuse to wear a mask, and take other simple and reasonable precautions for the common good, because we see these things as a taking away of our liberty, is to abandon the law of God, which is summed up in the command to love our neighbour as ourselves.

As we navigate a season where we will wear a mask on some occasions, and not others; where we will wash our hands, perhaps more often than before Covid but not as often as we have become accustomed to; whether we choose observance or not to observe certain practices, our guide should be the law of love. May we continue to grow as such disciples. May we, like the Pharisees, continue to seek Jesus, to see him more clearly, to love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly, day by day.

All Saints' Day 2020

 

Lectionary readings: Revelation 7:9-17 and 1 John 3:1-3 and Matthew 5:1-12

By now I am sure that you will have heard the news that, as of one minute past midnight on Thursday, we will be going back into a lockdown. As in the first time around, it looks most likely that church services will be suspended, and we must prepare ourselves for that to happen.

This has been a hard year, and Lockdown 2 comes as a bitter, if not entirely unexpected, blow. If lockdown heading into summer was hard, lockdown heading into winter will be harder. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Based on her observations of people experiencing grief, Elizabeth Kübler-Ross identified five emotional stages. These have since been somewhat discredited, in that there is no empirical evidence that everyone goes through all of them, or in any particular order, or that we ever get beyond loss. Nonetheless, they are recognisable to us. Denial: don’t worry, things will have changed again by Thursday, it won’t happen. Anger: the students are to blame for this! Yet more incompetence from the government! Bargaining: we should be recognised as an essential service; perhaps there is a loophole we can exploit? Depression: we know mental ill health has risen this year, due to sustained uncertainty exacerbated by isolation. Acceptance: or at least resignation, though they are not the same. Perhaps you recognise some or all of these emotional states, in yourself or in those around you.

William Worden focused not on the emotional responses to grief but, rather, on the four tasks of grieving. These four tasks do not necessarily follow on one after the other, but they may give purpose to mourning. The first task is to accept the loss. Whether the death of a loved one, or being made redundant, or retirement, or the empty nest when children leave home, loss is an inevitable part of life, and something we need to wrestle with God through the night if we are to receive blessing.

The second task is to acknowledge the pain of the loss. All loss involves pain, even if little losses are less painful that major losses. The biblical template for acknowledging the pain of loss is lament. Our Scriptures are full of lament. There is no place for the English stiff-upper-lip holding back of tears. If the doors of our churches are to close, even for a month, even if they will then reopen, there is a pain to that, which it is right and proper to recognise.

The third task of grieving is to adjust to a new environment. What does it mean to be the church, when we cannot gather together in this place and share holy communion? The newspaper headlines are speculating that Christmas could be cancelled this year. Well, it won’t be. But, yes, we won’t be able to mark it the way we have become accustomed to. We will need to adjust to a new reality. Likewise, we won’t be able to mark Remembrance Sunday as we have become used to. We can expend energy on outrage, or, we can choose to remember; perhaps, get back to the heart of remembrance, which is to move towards reconciliation and peace.

The fourth task of grieving is to reinvest in the reality of a new life. And right now, to be honest, we might not have the energy to do so. One of my deepest regrets of 2020 is that earlier in the year our church buildings were only closed for three months. You see, across the country, we just buckled down to ride it out until we could return to business as usual. But there is no going back, only pressing onward.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. What does that look like? Well, in part, it looks like holding on to the hope that there will be a reckoning beyond this life, beyond what we see now, when God will wipe away every tear. But what about the present? For now, the Church is called to be a foretaste of that hope, a testimony to what—and who—we hope in. We are called to be those who comfort the mourning; and those who, in our own mourning, know ourselves to be blessed, to be the happy ones. What does it look like? It looks like participation in the tasks of grieving, the conspiracy between the circumstances of our lives and the God who loves us beyond measure to draw us ever deeper into the mystery of knowing life in its fullness, its richness.

If All Saints’ Day reminds us of anything, it is that we have a long history of doing this. This might be the first pandemic you and I have lived through, but it is not the first time that the Church has been here. As we look to the men, women, and children whose faithful lives inspire our own, we are challenged and invited to step up and do likewise.

So, our doors will shut, and what we will be won’t look like what it has done, on the outside. But now is a time to press into our identity as children of God, to purify ourselves, that just a glimpse of what we hope in might be seen by those around us. That, as we say in Durham Diocese, we might bless our communities, for the transformation of us all.

 

Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

Lectionary readings: Exodus 17:1-7 and Philippians 2:1-13 and Matthew 21:23-32

We are fully six months into our experience of a global pandemic. And while, earlier in the year, we may well have hoped that we would be through this and out the other side by Christmas, it is becoming clearer that, at best, we are only a third of the way through this crisis. We have made it through the first stage, not without loss of life and considerable toll on the mental and emotional and financial resources of those of us who are still here; but now, from this weakened starting point, we need to face the next stage. And whereas we saw an initial coming together of communities, that has proved hard to sustain and has, increasingly, fractured into personal survival instincts. Indeed, we may be able to relate to the Israelites in Exodus 17, who found themselves some way into a testing time, descending into quarrelling and questioning whether Moses or God or anyone else had their welfare at heart. Alongside that, we might also note Jesus’ short parable in our reading from Matthew 21, contrasting a father and son whose initially opposed wills converge, with the father and his other son, whose wills, initially and perhaps superficially in agreement, diverge. And that is all that I want to say about those readings, before turning to the reading from Philippians 2, and focusing on the first two verses:

‘If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.’ (Philippians 2:1-2)

It is, perhaps, worth taking a moment to set the context. Paul is writing, from prison, to the church in Philippi, a Roman colony city in Macedonia, largely populated by retired army veterans, and with an historic association to the elite Praetorium guard. Paul wants them to know that what has happened to him—being under house arrest, or, we might say, under a personal form of lockdown restrictions—has actually helped to spread the gospel, in particular among serving members of the Praetorium guard. And Paul urges the believers in Philippi to, likewise, live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, in the context of hardship.

In keeping with the life experience of the Philippian church, and indeed of the people in Rome with whom he is having daily conversations about the gospel, Paul employs military images. He speaks of encouragement in Christ, literally, Jesus coming alongside us and, through his actions, strengthening our courage at the very point where it is draining away. He speaks of being consoled, which, from a civilian perspective may seem soft, but, when you listen to veterans who have seen and lived through traumatic events, there is something deep there that they can testify to experiencing from one another or to be in need of experiencing and often not receiving from society at large. To encouragement and consolation, Paul adds sharing or fellowship, the sense of mutual help; along with gut-level compassion, and deep empathy for someone else’s difficult circumstances. These very ideas, I would suggest, provide motivation and underpinning for veterans’ charity organisations, and perhaps especially some of the newer ones.

But, for Paul, these things are rooted in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit.

And if we have known this encouragement, this consolation, this sharing, this compassion, this sympathy, then, Paul exhorts us, we have everything that we need in order to experience joy, to be aware of God’s favour upon our lives, whatever our circumstances. And being so aware of God’s favour, we are empowered to be channels of that favour upon the lives of others, as we live out—again, in terms readily grasped by those of a military background—a common (united) mind of service, a common love, a common identity; specifically, all centred on Christ Jesus. Or, at least, we are empowered to work towards those goals, the convergence of our lives, personally and communally, with the mind of Christ, the love of Christ, the Body of Christ.

How, then, might these verses help us, who for the main part are not veterans, face months 7-12 of pandemic? Here are some questions to reflect on, alongside Paul’s words:

[1] Through whom is Jesus coming alongside you and encouraging you at present? And, how?

[2] Conversely, what voices are causing you feelings of anxiety or enmity towards others, and how might you reduce their influence?

[3] In line with the capacity you have at the moment (which may be small, and may even be non-existent for now), how might you console someone else today? (it could be as simple as sending them a text message)

[4] How might the local church model a sense of belonging to one another for the wider community? And vice versa.

(Think in terms of concrete practices, as much as possible. These might include ways of listening to people’s different experiences, patterns of prayer, practical support or projects, advocacy, re-organising how we do what we do…think also how we might build on the community goodwill of earlier this year, rather than just attempt to recover it: what is needed now, and moving forward? Recognise that we might not be able to answer this question yet, and that answers might emerge organically in time, but also that this will not happen in a sustainable manner without regular reflection.)

 

 

Fourth Sunday after Trinity 2020

Sunday 5 July: Fourth Sunday after Trinity 2020

 

Today, we meet from our own homes, from 10.20 a.m. for a 10.30 a.m. start via Zoom meeting ID: 664-485-330. You’ll also need a password code, which you can get from Revd Andrew Dowsett in advance by calling or texting him on 07783-760-012.

 

We greet each other in the Lord’s name

In the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lord be with you

and also with you.

 

We confess our sins and are assured of God’s forgiveness

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

The first commandment is this:

‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind,

and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.

 

God so loved the world

that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ

to save us from our sins,

to be our advocate in heaven,

and to bring us to eternal life.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith,

firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments

and to live in love and peace with all.

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.

 

Almighty God,

who forgives all who truly repent,

have mercy upon you,

pardon and deliver you from all your sins,

confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,

and keep you in life eternal;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

The Collect

Gracious father,

by the obedience of Jesus

you brought salvation to our wayward world:

draw us into harmony with your will,

that we may find all things restored in him,

our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

 

We proclaim and respond to the word of God

 

Romans 7:15-25a

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Glory to you, O Lord.

 

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

we wailed, and you did not mourn.”

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

 

At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

 

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Sermon

 

The Creed

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is,

seen and unseen.

 

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

 

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

 

We pray for the Church and the world

 

We pray for God’s faithfulness to be known in our world.

Faithful God

glorify your name.

 

In a world of change and hope,

of fear and adventure;

faithful God

glorify your name.

In human rebellion and obedience,

in our seeking and our finding;

faithful God

glorify your name.

In the common life of our society,

in prosperity and need;

faithful God

glorify your name.

As your Church proclaims your goodness in

words and action;

faithful God

glorify your name.

Among our friends

and in our homes;

faithful God

glorify your name.

In our times of joy,

in our days of sorrow;

faithful God

glorify your name.

In our strengths and triumphs,

in our weakness and at our death;

faithful God

glorify your name.

In your saints in glory

and on the day of Christ’s coming;

faithful God

glorify your name.

 

Make your ways known upon earth, Lord God,

your saving power among all peoples.

Renew your Church in holiness

and help us to serve you with joy.

Guide the leaders of this and every nation,

that justice may prevail throughout the world.

Let not the needy be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor be taken away.

Make us instruments of your peace

and let your glory be over all the earth.

 

We depart with God’s blessing

The peace of God,

which passes all understanding,

keep your hearts and minds

in the knowledge and love of God,

and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;

and the blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

 

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ. Amen.

 

 

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.

New Patterns for Worship, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2002.

Common Worship: Times and Seasons, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2006.

Sermon for Third Sunday after Trinity 2020

On Thursday evening just gone, I attended a Black Lives Matter vigil in Keel Square. It had been organised at the request of community organisers within the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority-Ethnic) community in Sunderland. I went as their guest, and in response to their invitation to stand in solidarity with them at this time. I went to hear local Black and mixed-heritage speakers share something of their experience of living here, in the city where I live. About 200 people came to a well-organised and peaceful event, maintaining spatial distance, most wearing masks. Many local church leaders were present. As part of the vigil, we were invited to take the knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. A humble, prayerful posture that connects us to Martin Luther King, Jr, and the ongoing civil rights movement; and a length of time that remembers the murder of George Floyd by a police officer who knelt on his neck for that long.

 

Some say that it is humiliating for a White man to take the knee; which causes me to wonder why humbling ourselves should be seen as (is) humiliating by White people, and White men in particular? Some dismiss it is a token gesture, which causes me to ponder the difference between symbolic actions and token actions, and how action can sustain us and empower transformation or sedate us and disempower transformation. Some will undoubtedly dismiss it as ‘woke,’ which makes me wonder why alertness to injustice should be something to vilify people for, and whose interests that serves?

 

There was a small but vocal demonstration protesting the vigil. One man waved a Union flag. Now, to be clear, context is everything. Despite our colonial history, the flag is not inherently racist. Flanking a member of the Cabinet giving the daily Coronavirus briefing, not racist. Flying from public buildings, not racist. Waved at the Olympic Games, not racist. Fluttering as bunting at the village fete, or adorning tea towels and cushions, not racist. But held aloft in protest of a Black Lives Matter vigil, the point being made is, “If you are not White you don’t belong in this country: go back home where your people come from.”

 

Again and again, as Black and mixed-heritage speakers addressed those in the square, the protestors tried to drown out these not-White voices with chants of ‘All Lives Matter’. And yes, all lives do matter. But, again, context is everything. If your first response to Black Lives Matter is not to listen, to hear why it is that such a statement needs to be made; if your response is the paternalistic corrective, All lives matter, then what you are actually saying is, Black people need to get back in their box—and, they need to accept that it is a far better and more comfortable box than it used to be. And if your response is to stand on the pavement and attempt to drown out not-White voices, that reveals a desperate attempt to silence the Other, and, frankly, demonstrates just why we need to insist that Black Lives Matter. For if all lives truly matter, then by definition Black lives matter; and if Black lives matter, then we should listen to them. We should acknowledge the injustice people experience because of who they are, and, with them, seek to address it. And yes, if all lives matter, then White lives matter too; but no one in this nation experiences wearying prejudice on account of being White, just as no one experiences wearying prejudice on account of being ‘able-bodied’ or ‘straight’.

 

How incredibly apposite our readings this Sunday are to the upheavals we are living through! And what a gift to wrestle with these words, and the story they unfold, and our place within it.

 

Paul’s letter to the Christian community in Rome—Romans—was written to be circulated around multiple congregations. Some were predominantly of Jewish background, and others were Gentile-majority churches; and, while they were all Christians, the Jewish believers looked on the Gentile believers, and treated them, as second-class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. This was the issue Paul sought to address. And he did so with brilliant contextual theological reflection, which has often become problematic when read in other contexts.

 

Paul begins his letter by painting as black a picture of the Gentiles as is imaginable. He quickly focuses on sexual practices that, from a Jewish outlook were beyond the pale to the point of being unnatural in their desires and actions. He builds a caricature his Jewish audience would agree with whole-heartedly, until he springs a trap: the respectable Jewish Christians are by nature every bit as separated from God as the Gentiles. Indeed, Paul even ascribes unnatural desire and activity to God, saying that God has cut the Jewish people from the vine of their heritage, has grafted the Gentiles into that vine, and will graft Israel back onto the vine from which he had broken it. Throughout the letter, Paul labours the point that there is one new humanity, and seeks to deconstruct the divisions that exist in the minds of the believers, and to foster the construction of something new and mutually uplifting. A community that will ultimately subvert Roman civilisation not by revolt, but by a better alternative.

 

And in the passage before us today, Paul takes up the imagery of slavery, as an analogy that his audience would be familiar with. Around 90% of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves, owned by a master. This was not necessarily the most abject slavery the world has ever known, but all empires are built on the backs of slaves, on men, women and children seen as property. For the Jews, being a slave—certainly, being a slave to a Gentile—was especially demeaning. Even though they were a nation occupied by a foreign army, and ruled over by the Roman Empire’s local puppet king, they had won for themselves certain exemptions, and rejected the notion of being slaves. On one occasion, a group of Jewish community leaders, confronting Jesus, declared that as a people they had never been slaves to anyone. This is quite extraordinary, given how foundational the story of God liberating his people from over four centuries of slavery in Egypt was to Jewish identity. But then, when we are confronted with our present, we reframe our past to suit.

 

In this passage from Romans 6, Paul employs the language of sin exercising dominion over us, to make us obey those passions within us that separate us from God rather than the desire within us to please God. Paul goes on to state that, according to this analogy, we are all slaves to something, either to impurity or to righteousness. Recognising ourselves as enslaved to God does not imply that God is a tyrant, but that we are not masters of our own destiny. Even if we believed ourselves to be the ones who were free, we were only free in regard to righteousness: that is, our freedom was built on sin, on the breakdown of relationship with God and neighbour. A freedom that, pursued, ends in death, that is, in the very opposite of all that is life-giving in and to and for the world.

 

Paul also points out that the unexamined default of his audience was to present themselves—both personally, and as a deeply interconnected community—to sin as instruments of wickedness. That is, their unexamined way of being in the world was complicit and instrumental in wickedness. Instead, and in marked contrast, they were to present themselves—both personally, and as a deeply interconnected community—to God as instruments of righteousness. That is, by ongoing intentional choices and actions, they were to be instrumental in the mending of the world, the flourishing of human relationships.

 

And while Paul is addressing both Jewish and Gentile believers, the primary challenge in much of this letter is to the Jewish Christians regarding their view of their Gentile sisters and brothers—and, indeed, their overly-inflated view of themselves.

 

All this, as I say, feels very apposite, for a predominantly White Church of England needing to reconsider our relationship to BAME Christians, including Black Majority churches; and for White British Christians needing to relearn our history and its impact on the world as it is today, in terms of the sin of racism. For people needing to de-construct and re-construct our identity. Until and unless we face these things, we will be slaves of sin. We have nothing to lose except our chains.

 

In closing, let me return to our Gospel reading, those short verses from Matthew 10, the church sent out into the world. Jesus calls us to be prophetic—and to connect with other prophetic voices in the community—and to embody justice in our dealings—and to connect with others doing likewise—and not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task or to dismiss the significance of starting where we are, with even the smallest of actions. It is not enough to not be racist, we must be anti-racist. We are not only set free from something, but also for something. This is a matter of our Father’s kingdom continually breaking into the world, of his will being done on earth as it is in heaven—and of that will being resisted.

 

And perhaps for us the starting-point needs to be that we welcome Jesus come-to-us in the BAME prophets—whether nurses or students or professors or church (and other religious tradition) leaders or asylum seekers—whom he has sent to Sunderland? There is an ongoing work of learning to see people through Jesus’ eyes that needs to be done, of which the recent vigil in Keel Square was a part. It isn’t easy; and we will get it wrong, as the Church has been getting it wrong from the beginning. Yet in the hope that, as from the beginning, God is at work to redeem, I commend it to you.

 

Third Sunday after Trinity 2020

Sunday 28 June: Third Sunday after Trinity 2020

 

Today, we meet from our own homes, from 10.20 a.m. for a 10.30 a.m. start via Zoom meeting ID: 664-485-330. You’ll also need a password code, which you can get from Revd Andrew Dowsett in advance by calling or texting him on 07783-760-012.

 

We greet each other in the Lord’s name

In the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lord be with you

and also with you.

 

We confess our sins and are assured of God’s forgiveness

Our Lord Jesus Christ said:

The first commandment is this:

‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

with all your soul, with all your mind,

and with all your strength.’

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Amen. Lord, have mercy.

 

God so loved the world

that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ

to save us from our sins,

to be our advocate in heaven,

and to bring us to eternal life.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith,

firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments

and to live in love and peace with all.

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.

 

Almighty God,

who forgives all who truly repent,

have mercy upon you,

pardon and deliver you from all your sins,

confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,

and keep you in life eternal;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

 

The Collect

God our saviour,

look on this wounded world

in pity and in power;

hold us fast to your promises of peace

won for us by your Son,

our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

 

We sing a hymn

 

We proclaim and respond to the word of God

 

Romans 6:12-23

Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.

When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

 

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

Glory to you, O Lord.

 

Matthew 10:40-42

‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

 

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Sermon

 

The Creed

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is,

seen and unseen.

 

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one Being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

 

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

 

We pray for the Church and the world

 

We pray for strength to follow Jesus.

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Whoever wishes to be great among you

must be your servant.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Unless you change

and become humble like little children,

you can never enter the kingdom of heaven.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Happy are the humble;

they will receive what God has promised.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Be merciful as your Father is merciful;

love your enemies and do good to them.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Love one another, as I love you;

there is no greater love than this,

to lay down your life for your friends.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

Jesus said: ‘Go to people everywhere

and make them my disciples,

and I will be with you always, to the end of time.’

Saviour, we hear your call.

Help us to follow.

 

God of mercy,

you know us and love us

and hear our prayer:

keep us in the eternal fellowship of

Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen.

 

O God our creator,

whose good earth is entrusted to our care

and delight and tenderness,

we pray:

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

 

For all who are in captivity to debt,

whose lives are cramped by fear

from which there is no turning

except through abundant harvest.

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

 

For all who depend on the earth for their

daily food and fuel,

whose forests are destroyed

for the profits of a few.

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

 

For all who labour in poverty,

who are oppressed by unjust laws,

who are banned for speaking the truth,

who long for a harvest of justice.

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

 

For all who are in captivity

to greed and waste and boredom,

whose harvest joy is choked

with things they do not need.

May those who sow in tears

reap with shouts of joy.

 

Turn us again from our captivity

and restore our vision,

that our mouth may be filled with laughter

and our tongue with singing.

Amen.

 

We sing a hymn

 

We depart with God’s blessing

The peace of God,

which passes all understanding,

keep your hearts and minds

in the knowledge and love of God,

and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;

and the blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

 

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ. Amen.

 

 

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.

New Patterns for Worship, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2002.

Common Worship: Times and Seasons, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2006.