19th December 2021 at 11:00 “Not Superman just a man”
Order of service 19th December 2021
Welcome – Keith
Candle lighting 1st Luke, 2nd Jedi, 3rd Amelia, 4th Julietta
Today we relight the first three candles of the Advent Wreath — the candles of HOPE, PEACE, and JOY. Now we light the fourth candle of Advent. This is the candle of LOVE. Jesus demonstrated self-giving love in his ministry as the Good Shepherd. Advent is a time for kindness, thinking of others, and sharing with others. It is a time to love as God loved us by giving us his most precious gift. As God is love, let us be love also. In the Book of Deuteronomy, we find these words, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 10:17-19
From the Gospel of John we hear, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
Let us pray:
Teach us to love, O Lord. May we always remember to put you first as we follow Christ’s footsteps, that we may know your love and show it in our lives. As we prepare for our celebration of Jesus’ birth, also fill our hearts with love for the world, that all may know your love and the one whom you have sent, your son, our Saviour. Amen.
Opening prayer – Anne
Hymn Calypso Carol
Sermon in the sack – Ella
Hymn Oh what a glorious night
Reading: 1 Corinthians 11: 23 – 32 “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Communion:
We come to the Lord’s supper together
as children of our one God.
Jesus makes the guest list, not us.
Our family, chosen by God,
is gathered from west and east,
and includes everyone,
even the lowest and the least.
Jesus, when he was resurrected from the dead,
revealed himself to his disciples
in the breaking of bread around a table.
May we see the face of God today as we come to the Lord’s Supper.
On the night he was handed over,
the night before he was crucified,
Jesus gathered with his friends for a meal.
He took the bread, and after blessing it,
he broke it, saying,
“This is my body, which is broken for you.
As often as you eat it, remember me.”
[break the bread]
Let’s pray:
Jesus, as we take this bread,
let it be a sign of all you did for us,
and who you are for us.
Thank you for this bread of life.
[people eat the bread]
After sharing the bread,
Jesus took a cup of wine, and gave it to them to drink, saying,
“This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many.”
[hold up the cup]
Let’s pray:
Jesus, as we drink this cup,
let it be a sign for us of all you did for us,
and who you are for us.
Thank you that you bring us peace that passes understanding.
[people drink]
Prayer:
Jesus, through your death and resurrection you reconciled the world to God,
and through your example you have shown us a way to peace. Give us strength as the people of God to be channels of peace in the world, speaking your peace, living your peace, and always longing for that moment of eternal peace when we shall see you again. Amen.
Benediction:
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!
Hymn Blessed Assurance
Notices
There will not be a Bible Study this coming week. Bible Studies will restart Thursday 6th January @ 19:30 on Zoom
Prayer meeting, Thursday 23rd @10:00 on Zoom
Prayer walk, Friday 24th @ 10:00
Christmas morning service 25th @10:00 in Church
Sunday morning worship 26th @ 10:30 on Zoom
Reading Matthew 1: 18 - 25
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. - Steve
Hymn I am a carpenter
Thought “Not Superman just a man”
Hymn Here is love
Blessing
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen - Jonathan
Thought 19th December 2021 “Not Superman just a man”
Superheroes are everywhere; they are on the television, in the cinema, in comics even on our children’s’ pyjamas. The idea of individuals who are different from you and I, endowed with supernatural powers have become a dominant cultural icon. In fact you could rightly say that our society is obsessed with the idea of of being a superhero.
Lucas often asks me which Marvel superhero I want to be. My answer to Lucas is always, “I want to be Tony Stark, Ironman” Now Lucas thinks this is because Ironman is smart, rich, good looking and charismatic. However the truth is I want to be Ironman because of how he fails. Ironman fails his family, he fails his friends, he fails those depending on him and he even fails himself. You may well ask why Keith do you want to be such a failure of Superhero? Well, I want to be Ironman because he never gives up trying to do what he believed was right despite the many failures and challenges in his life. Iron man is a very flawed person desperately trying to do what is right.
I think Lucas’s question and our societies obsession with superheroes exposes peoples need to be different, to be strong, to be able to make a difference and in short to be a superhero.
You may think that this obsession with superheroes is confined to secular society. However you would be wrong. From the very early days the Church has created its own superheroes and called them Saints. The Catholic Church has a very precise process for a person to become a Saint. Firstly the person being considered has to be dead. Secondly, the person has to be considered a “Servant of God” which, means they were holy, pure and kind. Thirdly, they had to be and I quote, “heroically virtuous” demonstrating four cardinal virtues and three theological virtues. Fourthly they need to have performed several miracles such as healing, levitation and being in two places at once. Fifthly, after all of above criteria are met the person is Canonised and officially recognised as a Saint, the equivalent of a religious superhero.
Why is this relevant to us? Well it is relevant because this 4th Sunday of Advent it is usually about Mary Jesus’ mother. Mary is the Saint of Saints, most venerated the most holy, the most worshipped, she is the equivalent of Superman of Saints. Mary appears to be without flaw or failure and perfect in all she does. Such is Mary’s fame that she is widely known even outside the church. It is fair to say Mary’s PR department have done a rather fantastic job raising her public awareness. However this morning we are not going to be thinking about Mary. Rather we are going to look at shadowy figure that appears in the early part of Jesus life then quietly disappears from the scene. We are going to think about what God can teach us for our lives through the life of Joseph, father of Jesus.
To give a little context, Matthew in his Gospel tells us that Joseph and Mary were betrothed when Jospeh found out Mary was pregnant. Not to put too fine a point on it this was a scandal. In Israel at that time, Jewish marriage customs regarding a couple’s engagement were far different and much more stringent than those we are familiar with today in the West. Marriages were arranged by the parents of the bride and groom and often without even consulting the couple to be married. A contract was prepared in which the groom’s parents paid a bride price. Such a contract was immediately deemed binding, with the couple considered married even though the actual ceremony and consummation of the marriage would not occur for as long as a year afterwards. Mary’s unexpected pregnancy would have brought shame and disgrace on both Joseph. It is in this distressing circumstance that we see a little of Joseph’s character that instead of having Mary stoned to death he chose to quietly divorce her which was an act of profound mercy on his part.
This brings us to the part of the Jospeh’s life that can speak most powerfully to us this morning. God appeared to Jospeh and said that the child conceived in Mary was from Him and that he should still take Mary to be his wife and raise the child as his own.
Joseph response to God’s demands was unexpected, as Josephs appear to almost immediately choose to obey God. However prior to or even after Joseph’s obedience I wonder what doubts went through Joseph’s mind, what did he feel, what fears assailed him? The simple answer is we don’t know, the Gospels are silent on how Joseph felt about what was going on. We can speculate however that it is likely that he wasn’t best please. I don’t think any of us would have blamed Joseph if he felt upset, betrayed and hurt by Mary’s apparent infidelity? Not to mention how he might have felt about bring up a child not of his blood. As I said we don’t know what Joseph’s feelings were and I would suggest it doesn’t matter. Why does Jospeh feelings not matter you well may ask? Simply because despite whatever Joseph felt, feared or wanted he decided to obey God’s commands and take Mary as his wife and raise the child as his own.
Jospeh’s obedience can teach us much for when each of us will be faced with a time when God makes a demand of us which we will find difficult, hard and possibly distressing. In fact for many of us here, God has already done that when He demanded we stop trying to save ourselves and accepted that it is only through His Son’s death on the cross that we can be saved. Since that day God has continued to demand we live by faith, that we seek to serve Him and not ourselves and that we are to share His offer of salvation with those around us. I don’t know about you but have found God’s demands hard, frightening and most of the time not something I really want to do. Like Joseph it’s not how we feel about what God demands we do, no what really matters is whether we obey or disobey.
As I mentioned previously if you look at how Joseph handled Mary’s apparent infidelity you get the impression of a thoughtful man. Therefore, it is unlikely that Joseph’s decision to obey God was one of blind obedience. No, Joseph obedience was probably thoughtfully considered. Joseph knew that if he were to be obedient he would face a lifetime of scandal and disgrace. He would face the daily whispers of those around him that he and Mary had broken the strict rule on not consummating the marriage until the appointed time. For modern society where sex outside marriage in the norm this is a strange concept. But for Jewish society such behaviour was scandalous and Joseph and Mary would have been pariahs in their own town. Can you imagine the angst Joseph would have felt as daily he bore this undeserved burden of shame? Joseph knew the burdens he would have to bear and yet he still chose to obey God?
Luke’s Gospel in 14: 25 – 34 records an account of Jesus warning His followers to think carefully and consider the cost before becoming His disciple. God wants us to carefully consider the costs of obeying His demands in our lives before we chose obey Him.
This is important for Joseph because the costs of obedience to God didn’t end with the social stigma. It would mean that Jospeh and his family would face the threat of violence from a murderous rule, Herod the Great. Obedience to God meant Jospeh and his family would be forced from their hometown to become refuges in a foreign country. It meant that Joseph and his family would have to live as foreigners far from Israel, alone and unsupported. Joseph obedience meant that on his return to Israel they could not return to their hometown of Bethlehem for fear of violence from Archelaus, Herod’s son. The family would have to move to live far from friends and family in the backwater town of Nazareth. Joseph choice to obey God had long lasting consequences for him and his family.
Yet all the adversity he faced, Joseph obedience was a persistent obedience in that when life become difficult he kept on being a husband to Mary and father to Jesus. Part of Joseph’s persistent obedience is that he had counted the cost of his obedience before he choice to obey. So when hardship and trials came along he was prepared and able to continue in his obedience.
Too many people chose to obey God and are surprised when trials and tribulations come along. Perhaps they think God promises a Rose Garden for those who chose to obey Him. However, the Bible and particularly Jesus promise to those who chose to obey God is that it is not they will walk through a Rose Garden but rather they will walk through a battlefield.
So it well that each of us when we are challenged to obey God has counted the cost and be prepared to face trials and tribulation for our obedience.
I like Joseph because he comes across as warm, thoughtful and caring man trying to do what is right in the most difficult of circumstances. Although it is not recorded in scripture I am sure that Joseph like me and you failed as a parent and a spouse. He was after all no Saint; he was never perfect in all he did. Yet with all the trials, tribulations and undoubted failures he experienced Jospeh remained true to his decision to obey God. Jospeh obedience meant he had a part in the greatest story ever told which led to countless millions of lives being changed.
So what is the takeaway from Joseph life for you and me this morning. It is this that God doesn’t need superheroes to change people’s lives. No, all that God needs to change people’s lives is the obedience of ordinary people. As we obey God we will discover as Joseph did that God’s grace is sufficient for us as we live our lives in obedience to Him.