{"id":22638,"date":"2024-11-10T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-10T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/sunday-worship-10-november-2024"},"modified":"2024-11-10T09:30:00","modified_gmt":"2024-11-10T09:30:00","slug":"sunday-worship-10-november-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/sunday-worship-10-november-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Worship 10 November 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
Today\u2019s service is led by the Revd Lance Stone<\/em><\/p>\n

 
Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to this online service. My name is Lance Stone and I am a retired URC minister who has served the church in London and in Cambridge, as well as ministering in the Church of Scotland in Aberdeen and in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

Call to Worship<\/strong> <\/p>\n

God is our refuge and our strength, a timely help in trouble.
Come, see what the Lord has done. 
In every part of the wide world he puts an end to war.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He breaks the bow, he snaps the spear, he burns the shield in the fire.
Stop fighting: learn that I am God, exalted among the nations, 
exalted in the earth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hymn<\/strong>     O God Our Help in Ages Past<\/em>
Isaac Watts (1719) Public Domain, BBC Songs of Praise<\/p>\n

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.<\/p>\n

Before the hills in order stood, or earth received its frame,
from everlasting Thou art God, to endless years the same.<\/p>\n

A thousand ages in Thy sight are like an evening gone,
short as the watch that ends the night before the rising sun.<\/p>\n

Time, like an ever-rolling stream bears all its sons away;
they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the op\u2019ning day.
 
O God, our Help in ages past, our Hope for years to come,
be Thou our Guard while life shall last, and our eternal Home!<\/p>\n

The Act of Remembrance<\/strong> <\/p>\n

Friends, let us remember in silence before God 
all those who have died in war\u2026<\/p>\n

The silence…<\/em><\/p>\n

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. We will remember them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Holy and gracious God,
eternal source and end of all things:
we praise and worship you.
We rejoice in the wonder of your creation;
we give thanks that you have given us life;
that you have  given us one another;
that you have given us a world to delight in.
All around us are signs of your handiwork
and we would honour you, the Maker.<\/p>\n

Confession and Pardon<\/strong><\/p>\n

O God, forgive us for our destructive ways
forgive us that we threaten what you have made,
and this morning we especially pray for forgiveness for war, 
and for all its horror.
We pray for forgiveness for the ease with which we resort to war;
for the casualties and the victims that it leaves in its wake;
for all the ways in which your good world is scarred
by conflict and our inhumanity to one another.
We confess our share in such a world,
our failures to seek and to establish peace even in our own lives.<\/p>\n

O God, have mercy upon us and forgive us.  
Keep faith with us and lead us into ways of righteousness.
Show us the things that make for peace.
And we thank you that you have given us Jesus, the prince of peace,
who has come and made peace by the blood of his cross.
Help us, we pray, to live in that power.
We pray all these things in his name, as we join together in the words 
that he taught us, saying\u2026Our Father…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prayer for Illumination<\/strong><\/p>\n

Living God, fashion and shape us by your Word, 
that we might rise from death and destruction 
to life in all its fullness. Amen.<\/p>\n

Reading<\/strong>     St Mark 12:38-44<\/em><\/p>\n

As Jesus taught, he said, \u2018Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the market-places, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! They devour widows\u2019 houses  and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.\u2019 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them,  \u2018Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have  contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hymn<\/strong>     For the Healing of the Nations<\/em>
Fred Kaan (1965) \u00a9 1968, Hope Publishing Co. OneLicence  # A-734713 sung by the virtual choir of the First Avenue Presbyterian Church Virtual Choir, New York, America.<\/p>\n

For the healing of the nations,
Lord, we pray with one accord,
for a just and equal sharing
of the things that earth affords.
To a life of love in action
help us rise and pledge our word.<\/p>\n

Lead us forward into freedom;
from despair your world release,
that, redeemed from war & hatred,
all may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care 
and goodness
fear will die and hope increase.<\/p>\n

All that kills abundant living,
let it from the earth be banned:
pride of status, race, or schooling,
dogmas that obscure your plan.
In our common quest for justice
may we hallow life\u2019s brief span.<\/p>\n

You, Creator God, have written
your great name on humankind.
For our growing in your likeness,
bring the life of Christ to mind
that by our response and service
earth its destiny may find.
 
Sermon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let us pray: Loving God, speak your Word to our hearts that it may become flesh in our lives, to the glory of your name. Amen.<\/p>\n

At first sight our reading this morning from Mark\u2019s Gospel is fairly straightforward. Jesus is in Jerusalem and he is visiting the temple and he notices people putting money into the treasury, which consisted of thirteen large collecting boxes. And as Jesus watches he sees this poor widow \u2013 one of the most vulnerable people in society \u2013 putting in her two small coins which amounted to almost nothing, and certainly nothing in comparison to the big sums being put in by rich people. Jesus, however, knew that what she had given was far more than the bigger offerings for it was all that she had. And so he commended her. And the story lends itself to a simple moral: generosity is a blessed virtue, even when we don\u2019t have much, and the story might be used a subtle prompt to church members to give generously the church, a reminder which \u2013 as church treasurers know well \u2013 is sometimes necessary.<\/p>\n

There is, however, rather more to the story than that, and to grasp this we need to backtrack a little. You see, the setting of the incident in its wider context in Mark\u2019s Gospel is a series of controversies between Jesus and the religious establishment who are trying to catch him out. Here Jesus goes toe- to-toe with the religious authorities of his day and what he saw as their corrupt and distorted practices. So Jesus warns people in verse 38 to \u2018beware of the scribes\u2019 with their ostentatious display of long robes and their top-tier seats. But then comes this stinging rebuke, \u2018they devour widows\u2019 houses\u2026\u2019 In other words, Jesus here is condemning the entire, rotten religious system, centred on the temple, which extorts money out of those least able to afford it, like this widow, and which bleeds them dry. <\/p>\n

What is worse, however, is that in these latter chapters of Mark\u2019s Gospel Jesus is making plain that the Jerusalem temple to which this widow was giving, this mighty edifice, has no future. It is ear-marked for destruction. In Jesus\u2019 mind the Jewish people of his day do not know the things that work for peace but are set on a course that will in just a few years lead ultimately to rebellion against Rome and a brutal crushing defeat. Jerusalem and its glorious temple will be laid to waste, as happened in AD70. And Jesus has not long since prefigured all this by invading the temple and driving out the money-changers, symbolising the coming destruction. Suddenly we view this woman\u2019s actions in a different light. She was giving all she had \u2013 but for what purpose? She was making a sacrifice \u2013 but for what?  <\/p>\n

Where this passage tells us that this widow \u2018put in everything she had\u2019, the original Greek in which the passage was written says, literally, that she put in \u2018all the living of her\u2019 \u2013 or, in other words, \u2018she gave her whole life\u2019. But what was she giving her whole life for? The upkeep of a building with a demolition order attached. She was giving her all for a building with a very  short shelf-life. What was the point of that? Was it worth it?<\/p>\n

Well, here is where this passage begins to bite, not least on this occasion, this Remembrance Sunday when we recall those who made the supreme sacrifice in war \u2013 those who gave their whole lives. At the risk of being controversial, we surely have to ask whenever a war is fought: was it worth it? Was it worth the cost in bloodshed? Was it like this widow\u2019s sacrifice \u2013 costly self-giving for a lost cause? And we might prefer to blank that question, but we can\u2019t, and certainly it is a responsibility of Christians who serve the Prince of Peace to face it.<\/p>\n

Take the 1st World War which still looms large on Remembrance Sunday.  It has been estimated that in that conflict over 16 million people died: around 10 million military personnel and just under 7 million civilians \u2013 and of course there were a far greater number of wounded and maimed who were scarred for life. <\/p>\n

The numbers are mind-boggling \u2013 what cause could conceivably justify such suffering and loss of life?  And we hear about the horrors and futility of trench warfare, with thousands of lives lost for a few metres of mud gained. And those soldiers who survived were promised a return to \u2018a land fit for heroes\u2019, when in fact they returned to the economic turmoil of the 20s and the 30s and high unemployment and the Great Depression. And the 1st World War was dubbed \u2018the war to end all wars\u2019, but the deeply resented terms of the Treaty of Versailles helped to make that an impossible dream. The 20th century, that most bloody of centuries, did not exactly fulfil that hope, \u2018the war to end all wars\u2019. And  so we ask: was it worth it? <\/p>\n

Most people would agree that it is easier to answer that question affirmatively with regard to the 2nd World War, that a necessary price was paid, despite the appalling death toll. But what of more recent wars? What about Vietnam where an estimated 58,000 Americans died, with the overall number on all sides likely exceeding a million? Was it worth it? Robert McNamara was the US Secretary of Defence at the height of the war, and a fierce advocate of it, but he later confessed to deep regret and remorse for US mistakes: \u2018we were wrong, terribly wrong\u2019 he confessed, \u2018and we owe it to future generations to  explain why.\u2019 And what of Northern Ireland? Can those who died for the cause rest in peace? Was it worth it? Or Iraq? Can the death toll be justified by the emergence of a more peaceful and stable world? Or Afghanistan, or Ukraine or Gaza? And of course in some cases there would be a strong case for concluding with a heavy heart that yes, it was worth it. It was justified. There was no choice.<\/p>\n

But we return to this widow, and her sacrificial offering, her costly giving to a doomed temple. And we might see in her a symbol of futility, of pity, of lives laid down for lost causes, sacrifices made that were just not worth it. Yet Jesus, despite his perspective on the temple, does not seem to see it that way. He could have told her to keep her coins, to save them for a better purpose \u2013 but he did not. He commended her. And soon after this another woman will come to Jesus and break open a jar of very costly ointment and anoint Jesus and that too could be seen as a pointless gesture, a waste. But no, Jesus commends her. And maybe that is because these acts were done in good faith, from good motives, out of love \u2013 irrespective of their effects or what they achieved. <\/p>\n

And here I want to put this widow\u2019s self-sacrifice into a much wider context. I want to suggest that that acts of self-giving, done in good faith, acts that cost us, are central to  our humanity, essential to our becoming fully human beings. Indeed, perhaps in this widow\u2019s act Jesus saw an echo of his own ministry of self-giving and sacrifice. The great over-arching narrative of our faith proclaims that in the fullness of time God emptied himself in Christ, laying aside his glory and being born in human likeness, becoming a servant \u2013 an act of self-sacrifice, writing this into the very DNA of the universe. Self-sacrifice therefore lies in the heart of God, and at the heart of creation and of what it means to be made in the image of God. And this is something we need to learn in an age where there is great emphasis on self-fulfilment, on discovering our true selves, on maximising our potential and becoming all that we can be \u2013 but we aren\u2019t very sure how to go about it. And the word is that the key to it all lies in asserting ourselves and trying to grab more and to produce more and to consume more and to be more, but it doesn\u2019t work. This is not humanising us. What we who strive to bear the image of God must learn is that self-fulfilment, paradoxically, cannot come without self-giving and self-sacrifice; that in order to gain life we have to be ready to lose it; that in order to live we must be prepared to die; that in surrendering ourselves to loss there is a mysterious, gratuitous gain. It\u2019s what we see symbolised and enacted in the Christian rite of baptism which tells us that in laying ourselves down we rise to new life.
 
So we return to the widow in the temple with her little offering. The cause to which she gave may have been already lost but she nevertheless comes to us graced with the image of God. In a competitive and often ruthless world she gives us a glimpse of the secret of our humanity. And she speaks to us too of those who sacrificed their lives in wars \u2013 sometimes, apparently, in a futile cause. This is not to justify pointless and destructive wars. It is not to try to put a gloss on the shameful waste of life and the sheer pity and tragedy of war. But it is to recognise that we are never more fully human than when we give of ourselves in love and in good faith – whatever the outcome. And in the spirit of this widow, let us never, ever underestimate the significance of little acts of kindness \u2013 small acts of love that may cost us, but which season life, and which humanise us, and which make the world a more gracious and generous place to live. <\/p>\n

Opportunities for such sacrificial self-giving abound. They are all around us. Let us embrace them, and so honour the fallen. Amen.<\/p>\n

Hymn<\/strong>     Peace is Flowing Like a River<\/em>
Adapted by Carey Landry \u00a9 1975, 1979, OCP OneLicence # A-734713. Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission.<\/p>\n

Peace is flowing like a river,
flowing out through you and me;
flowing out into the desert,
setting all the captives free.<\/p>\n

Love is flowing like a river,
flowing out through you and me;
flowing out into the desert,
setting all the captives free.<\/p>\n

Healing\u2019s flowing like a river,
flowing out through you and me;
flowing out into the desert,
setting all the captives free.<\/p>\n

Alleluia, alleluia, Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, alleluia, Alleluia, alleluia.<\/p>\n

Prayers of Intercession<\/strong><\/p>\n

O gracious, peace-making God, 
as we today remember the fallen, those who have died in conflicts, 
we bring before you today our war-torn world, 
where the strident din of hatred and conflict
drowns out the sighs of peace and the whispers of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

We think of conflicts too numerous to mention,
religious conflicts, political conflicts, civil wars –
and we think of the effects of wars \u2013 
of refugees and refugee camps and asylum seekers,
and the maimed and the disfigured…
We pray, God, for the United Nations, that it may be a force for peace.
We pray for world leaders that they may act wisely
and justly and for the good of all.
And we pray for those who bear arms on behalf of the nation,
that they may be endowed discipline and discernment,
courage and compassion.<\/p>\n

We pray today for the United States of America 
in the aftermath of the election, 
praying for a peaceful and orderly transition to a new administration, 
for a healing of the divisions that have opened up in recent times, 
and for a recovery of trust and commitment to the common good.<\/p>\n

And we pray for our enemies, for those who wish us harm,
that you will turn the hearts of all towards kindness and friendship.
We pray for the wounded and the bereaved,
that  in their trials they may know your love and support.<\/p>\n

Most holy and gracious God, 
hear our prayers for all who strive for peace
and all who fight for justice.
Help us, who today remember the cost of war
to work for a better tomorrow;
and as we commend to you lives lost in terror and conflict,
bring us all, in the end, to the peace of your presence;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n

Offertory Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Living God, today we honour those who, 
like the woman in the gospel, are motivated by self-giving.
As we do so we give thanks for Jesus who gave his life 
that we might live.
And we offer these gifts, asking that our lives may be motivated
By such self-giving, in the service of your Kingdom.  Amen<\/p>\n

Hymn<\/strong>     Healing River of the Spirit<\/em>    
Ruth C Duck \u00a9 1996 The Pilgrim Press OneLicence # A-734713 Recorded by the Sunday 7pm Choir at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Ajax, Ontario, Canada<\/p>\n

Healing river of the Spirit, bathe the wounds that living brings.
Plunge our pain, our sin, our sadness deep beneath your sacred springs.
Weary from the restless searching that has lured us from your side,
we discover in your presence peace the world cannot provide.
  
Wellspring of the healing Spirit, stream that flows to bring release,
as we gain ourselves, our senses, may our lives reflect your peace.
Grateful for the flood that heals us, may your Church live out your grace.
As we meet both friend and stranger, may we see our Saviour\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

Living stream that heals the nations, make us channels of your power.
All the world is torn by conflict; wars are raging at this hour.
Saving Spirit, move among us; guide our winding human course,
till we find our way together, flowing homeward to our Source.<\/p>\n

Blessing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Now go in peace
to live lives in the service of Christ\u2019s Kingdom;
and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship   of the Holy Spirit
be with you, now and always. Amen.
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

 Today\u2019s service is led by the Revd Lance Stone  Introduction Hello and welcome to this online service. My name is Lance Stone and I am a retired URC minister who has served the church in London and in Cambridge, as well as ministering in the Church of Scotland in Aberdeen and in Amsterdam. Call to … <\/p>\n

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