Sunday 13th February 2022.
Theme: Service- We will help people in our communities and beyond.
1).Notices and Welcome.
2).Call to Worship. Psalm 100:1-5;
A psalm. For giving grateful praise. 1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his[a]; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
3).STF17-With gladness we worship rejoice as we sing
4).Prayers of Praise, Adoration, Thanksgiving, Confession, Lords Prayer.
5). Theme Introduction - We will help people in our communities and beyond.
Methodist Way of Life Reminder
Back in October
We will pray daily.
We will worship with others regularly.
We Will look and listen for God in Scripture, and the world.
Learning and Caring
We will care for ourselves and those around us.
We will learn more about our faith.
We will practise hospitality and generosity.
Now we are picking up the MWOL themes again from this Sunday.
Service
We will help people in our communities and beyond.
We will care for creation and all God’s gifts.
We will challenge injustice.
Evangelism
We will speak of the love of God.
We will live in a way that draws others to Jesus.
We will share our faith with others.
6) STF 707-Make me a channel of your peace.
7).OT Reading- Isaiah 58:6-14.
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: The Lords Will for us
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, Result of doing the Lord's Will
and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] (or “your righteous one”) will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;Our Response to Gods Blessing
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, Terms and Conditions apply
with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness, The results God Promises
and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath.More T&C’s-No Complacency
and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honour it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Footnotes
a.Isaiah 58:8 Or your righteous One
8).STF254 Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven
9).Gospel Lesson. Luke 10 :25-28.
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Footnotes
a.Luke 10:27 Deut. 6:5
b.Luke 10:27 Lev. 19:18
10).STF6-Father We Love You
11).Prayers for Others.
12) Sermon
The law of “cause and effect” is probably one that we have all learned from infancy during our childhood years.
The dictionary helpfully explains this term, “cause and effect”.
A cause, it says, is a source or a producer of effects. It then clarified that An effect is the result or consequence of a cause.
Thus any two actions will have a cause-and-effect relationship.
If we stay up all night and skip breakfast (the causes), we might well then find ourselves feeling cranky, listless, fuzzy headed or even a bit grumpy. (the effect).
When it comes to these themes of “The Methodist Way Of Life”, it seems to me that we are describing the effects that follow the cause or the source motivator or producer of these attributes. For in order to put them into practice, something deeper must have happened first of all. Something which then provides the impetus, the desire, the motivation and the energy to practice these individual aspects of the Methodist Way of Life.
Interestingly, many of these MWOL themes, whilst altruistic in themselves, are not actually attributes that are unique to Christian people.
Things like:
We will care for ourselves and those around us.
We will practise hospitality and generosity.
We will practise hospitality and generosity.
We will care for ourselves and those around us.
We will care for creation and all God’s gifts.
We will challenge injustice.
And even today's theme
We will help people in our communities and beyond.
These are all commendable things to do but, whilst they are definitely attributes that all Christian’s should show, they are not unique to us as Christians but rather are seen in the actions of people of most other faiths and indeed no faith at all. The agnostic and atheist also put most of these things into practice.
So what makes these attributes or effects special to us as Methodist Christians.
The answer is the very nature of their cause, their origin, the source from which they originate; a source that demands, defines and energises the expression of these MWOL characteristics. In other words Almighty God Himself, and our relationship with Him.
And here, when getting to the source that inspires our acts and of our service, things do get considerably more demanding.
Here is how Jesus summed up what was involved. Luke 19:27 . He was answering a legal expert's question at the time about what he had to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus' reply to him was to ask him what the law said. The man replied, to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and to, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
Quick as a flash, Jesus said to him , 28 “You have answered correctly,”
“Do this and you will live.”
In the economy of Jesus, our first response to God’s love must be to love him right back with the same kind of sacrificial love as he has offered us.
And we do that in relationship with Him by our commitment and our faithful committed service, the attributes of the Methodist Way of Life.
The “Cause” here then is God’s unconditional grace and love; The “effects”, our faith and practice in daily life.
When we read the detail of the Lord's expectation of how his people should behave it does mirror the elements of the Methodist Way of Life. Such service Isaiah 58 explains, is not what we are prepared to give up (fasting) but what we are prepared to do; what we are willing to put into practice.
Isaiah 58: 6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
This kind of committed service is summed up in the language that Jesus used in Luke 19:37;
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and to, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.
The Greek word used for “‘Love” here is Agapēseis (Ἀγαπήσεις)
Agape, is one of the several Greek words for love. Others are phileo, or brotherly love, eros or erotic love and storge, which is a love between family members.
Agape love is a little different. It is not a feeling; it is rather a motivation for action, a motivation that we are free to choose or reject. Agape is a sacrificial love that voluntarily suffers inconvenience, discomfort, and even death for the benefit of another without expecting anything in return. We are called to agape love through Christ's example, to be "imitators of God, as beloved children. And as Ephesians 5:1-2 tells us, to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God".
Living a Methodist Way of life is therefore a considered and sacrificial path.
And here in these words of Jesus you and I are called to “agape love the Lord our God”, the supreme authority unconditionally, with “all” (the word used for “all” in Greek is “holes” meaning all, the whole, complete) of our heart (thoughts and feelings) soul (our breath of life), strength (power, might, force, ability) and mind (our deepest thoughts and faculties) and our neighbour as ourselves.
Out of this giving 100% of ourselves to God arises the service we offer to God.
As we do so, according to the prophet Isaiah, there is blessing to be found.
“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer”; he declares, “you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
So here we are at Thundersley Methodist Church, considering once again the immense love of God and His call to us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbour as ourselves. To continue to help people in our communities and beyond. May God, our source, enable and empower us in this endeavour, may his effects, may His love and power be seen and experienced by many through us and our service. Amen
13.STF611 Brother Sister let me serve you.
14.Benediction