WORSHIP GOD

 

 

Psalm 19

God’s Glory in Creation and the Law

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect,
   reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure,
   making wise the simple; 
⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right,
   rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
   enlightening the eyes; 
⁹ the fear of the Lord is pure,
   enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
   and righteous altogether. 
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold,
   even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
   and drippings of the honeycomb. 

¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward. 
¹² But who can detect their errors?
   Clear me from hidden faults. 
¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
   do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
   and innocent of great transgression. 

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
   be acceptable to you,
   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

 

Hymn – With Gladness we Worship

www.youtube.com/watch?v=705eMUhoGs8

   1      With gladness we worship, rejoice as we sing,
           free hearts and free voices how blessèd to bring;
           the old, thankful story shall scale thine abode,
           thou King of all glory, most bountiful God.

   2      Thy right would we give thee — true homage thy due,
           and honour eternal, the universe through,
           with all thy creation, earth, heaven and sea,
           in one acclamation we celebrate thee.

   3      Renewed by thy Spirit, redeemed by thy Son,
           thy children revere thee for all thou hast done.
           O Father!  Returning to love and to light,
           thy children are yearning to praise thee aright.

   4      We join with the angels, and so there is given
           from earth alleluia, in answer to heaven.
           Amen!  Be thou glorious below and above,
           redeeming, victorious, and infinite Love!

George Rawson (1807–1889)

 

Prayer

All seeing God,
you watch over every instant of our life;
showing us the glory of your creation if we should but pause to look.
showing us the generosity of your Spirit
if we should but hold out our hands to receive.
showing us your work that needs to be done
if we should only use our eyes and ears.
Turn us away, loving Lord, from our insistent self
and lead us to see more clearly what you give and what you ask of us this day.
AMEN

Lord of the here and now, of the past and the future,
Forgive us when we build a wall against you of our perceived needs, when we put our own selfish desires first.
Forgive us when we become obsessed by others standards and want more, rather than sharing what we already have.
We plunder to possess, dear Lord, instead of emptying ourselves to allow you entry into our hearts.
Forgive us our faults and guide us into the right ways to live.

Lord, you call us to you as we hide away, ashamed of our own demands, our own selfishness, our concentration on self and our ignoring of other’s needs.
You offer us unconditional forgiveness and call us to build your house together, where love can dwell and all can safely live.
AMEN

 

Readings

Exodus 20:1-17

The Ten Commandments

20Then God spoke all these words:

2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ³you shall have no other gods before me.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, ⁶but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

8 Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. ⁹For six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

12 Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.

17 You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.

John 2:13-22

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’¹⁸The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

 

Reflection

Last Tuesday morning I was interviewed via Zoom by a group of Year 10 students (age 14) from Norton Hill School who are learning about the Christian Life.  They asked many interesting questions, some that only children will ask, but two questions stuck in my mind.  Firstly, “How many new people come to church each week?”  Sadly, my answer was “Hardly any”, and the follow up question was, “Why not?”.

This is a question we ask ourselves regularly, do we not?  They seem happy to enter the Temple courts to engage with all sorts of activities, but not to worship.  Why not - indeed?

Jesus enters the Temple, and seeing what is going on, he flies into a rage, and drives everyone out.  It is not an image we naturally associate with Jesus.  So what was it that was so abhorrent to him?  On the surface, the animal traders and money changers were necessary for the functioning of the Temple.  The animal traders provided the animals which were to be sacrificed, the money changers enabled foreign travellers’ currencies to be changed into Jewish currency so that worshippers could pay their Temple tax.

Bible commentators often point to the tradespeople and money changers who were probably charging exorbitant rates to those desperately in need of their services, and were exploiting them when they had nowhere else to go.  Also, the tradition of separate areas within the Temple, which divided Jew from Gentile, the latter deemed less worthy.  We can see why Jesus would be angry where the Temple, this place of God, had become a place of dishonesty, exploitation and discrimination, rather than welcome and sanctuary.  The powerful becoming rich at the expense of the vulnerable.  Not exactly kingdom values!

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that Jesus’ reference to destroying the Temple and raising it up in three days refers to his death.  But for those in the Temple courts that day it was a ludicrous suggestion, when they knew it had taken 46 years to build the Temple.  Jesus links the physical structure of the Temple, wherein God dwells, with his own body, wherein God dwells.

And so, as we continue to live through this lockdown period, and our buildings remain unused, the question remains as to where God resides today?  Hopefully we can agree that God resides in each one of us, and is not confined to our buildings.  And as we start to return to using them, perhaps we should also reflect on what activities go on inside them.  Are they kingdom building, or kingdom denying activities?

Most churches, in normal times, are very busy places, as many let out their rooms for the use of local community groups.  This has become a good source of income, and it is a good use of our resources when we do not have use for them ourselves.  But perhaps we should be challenging ourselves about why we let out our buildings, and the activities that go on.  I’m not saying that there is anything dishonest happening, but also, there is very little kingdom building going on either. Our Temple courts may be thronged with people, but have we lost sight of our mission in the busyness of the Temple? 

Many will argue that letting our rooms is a role of service we are providing to the local community, and I would agree.  The problem comes if we decide that is our sole mission, allowing us to sit back and do nothing else, because we believe we are achieving our mission.  Our mission as a Church is to make disciples of Jesus, and we can make good steps towards that if we engage with the local community as they enter our buildings to take part in Pilates or Zumba or playing their Ukeleles.  If, however, we are merely providing four walls and a roof to stop these people getting wet as they do their activities, and we do not engage with them, then we are not.

As we start to come out of lockdown, and the old busyness of our buildings returns, perhaps we should be asking ourselves why these people are happy to enter our buildings to indulge their interests and activities, but do not see them as places of worship that they wish to attend.   

God gave Moses the 10 Commandments as a framework around which to build a new society for the Hebrews as they escaped from slavery in Egypt.  There are some DON’Ts, which protect us from activities which separate us from God, and there are some Dos, which help us to grow to be more God-like.  May all the activities that fill our Temple courts bring glory to God, and enable those who enter to meet God in that place, and recognise that he dwells within them as well.

Amen

Intercessions & Lords Prayer

Listening Lord
in this time of prayer we bring to you all that is occupying our thoughts, and lying on our heart.

We ask a blessing on all your people who have to worship you in secret,
for those whose pain is so great that they have no strength to worship,
and for those who do not recognize their need to worship.

Bless those, we pray, who are working to bring your Kingdom closer,
for those wanting to bring justice and fairness to your world,
and those seeking to fulfil the desires of your heart.

We pray that you will bless those whose need is greater than our own, those who cry out to you, and those who feel they are alone.
Bless those we love and care for, and those we long to see again

We pray for our families and friends, and for all those in need at this present time.

We pray for the churches in our Circuit, this week for Bathampton, and their minister, Elizabeth Kirova and for Beechen Cliff, and their minister, Jan Tate. As Churches Together With Westfield and Radstock we pray for St Peter’s in Westfield, and their vicar, Ian Rousell.

Listening Lord, take the words of our hearts and use them for your service.

Amen

Let us pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us

 

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

for ever and ever.

Amen.

 

Hymn – The church’s one foundation

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jotNbcFelX4

   1      The Church's one foundation
           is Jesus Christ her Lord;
           she is his new creation
           by water and the word;
           from heaven he came and sought her
           to be his holy bride;
           with his own blood he bought her,
           and for her life he died.

   2      Called out from every nation,
           yet one through all the earth,
           her charter of salvation
           one Lord, one faith, one birth;
           one holy name she blesses,
           and shares one holy food,
           as to one hope she presses
           with every grace endued.

   3      In toil and tribulation,
           and tumult of her war,
           she waits the consummation
           of peace for evermore;
           till with the vision glorious
           her longing eyes are blest,
           at last the Church victorious
           shall be the Church at rest.

   4      Yet she on earth has union
           with God the Three in One,
           and mystic, sweet communion
           with those whose rest is won.
           O happy ones and holy!
           Lord, give us grace that we,
           with them, the meek and lowly,
           in heaven your face shall see.

Samuel John Stone (1832–1900)

Blessing

We came together to worship God.
Now we go into God’s world:
to be God’s people wherever we are called to go. 
Let us go in Christ’s name. 

And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you, now and forever more.  Amen