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Poole Bay Methodist Circuit worship

Sunday 20th September 2020

Who are we and why do we do this? - Led by Rev Tony Cavanagh

Welcome to our worship this Sunday, it’s Rev Tony here, and it’s good to be sharing with you in this way once again.

As we settle let us listen to the Taize chant – wait for the Lord, which can be found here:



The Lyrics are:

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

Wait for the Lord,

Whose day is near

Wait for the Lord

Keep watch, take heart!

© Ateliers et Presses de Taizé (A&PT), Communauté de Taizé, 71250 Taizé, France editions@taize.fr

Prayer time:

Let’s pause and just listen to the sounds around us… Listen to the sounds around… Pay attention to your own breathing… Become aware of God’s loving presence with you, here, in this moment… Give thanks that he is with you, and offer a word of praise from your heart…

Welcome Holy God, we are here, in this moment to meet with you, to listen to you, to worship you. With the dust of life’s journey on our feet, and the many things on our to do list swirling around in our minds, we come, come to settle ourselves at your feet, and to honour you…

Listen to these words of Jesus. He reminds us that in him we have value, in him we find our work and identity, in him we shall be renewed and shared with the world.

Matthew 14:13-21

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

We listen to the Song “My Jesus, My Saviour” Sung for us by the Winton Band:



Lyrics:

My Jesus, my Saviour

Lord there is none like you

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of your mighty love

My comfort, my shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of Your name

I sing for joy at the work of your hands

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have

In YOU

My Jesus, my Saviour

Lord there is none like You

All of my days, I want to praise

The wonders of your mighty love

My Comfort

My Shelter

Tower of refuge and strength

Let every breath, all that I am

Never cease to worship You

Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing

Power and majesty, praise to the King

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar

At the sound of your name

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand

Nothing compares to the promise I have

In YOU

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Daniel Jacobi / Darlene Zschech / P. Eltermann

My Jesus, My Saviour (Shout to the Lord) lyrics © Adonia Verlag

Some thoughts on our reading:

Identity Crisis: Who are we and why do we do this?

I was looking across my bookshelves in the study the other day and came across a couple of children’s books by Nick Butterworth and Nick Inkpen. The are bible stories told from a different perspective, say a mouse in the stable in Bethlehem – that sort of approach. I opened them and started reading one of the stories, remembering when we used to read them to our children. I must confess here that I did get a tad nostalgic and emotional as our eldest, Tom left home again this week, moving to Manchester to begin the next chapter in his life’s journey. Well the story I read was the feeding of the 5000, and it got me thinking about what that story has to say to us today.

There is of course and immediate parallel with our experience at the beginning of lockdown – when suddenly we found the shelves in our shops empty – at least those of us that were able to go and look. Then I thought to myself that many people operate out of a scarcity mindset – we are all too aware of what we don’t have in life aren’t we, and it gives us that opportunity to moan, and maybe feel sorry for ourselves. During the early weeks of the COVID lockdown, it was difficult to find toilet paper in our shops. Some of that difficulty was simply because most of the toilet paper being manufactured is for institutional use – office buildings, schools, hotels, for example. Suddenly, office buildings, schools, and hotels were empty. Everyone was at home, and the demand outstripped the availability of those products.

But there was something else going on, too. People were ‘stocking piling’ on basic essentials like toilet paper because they were afraid that there would be a time when they just couldn’t get hold of it. They were operating out of a mindset of scarcity, hoarding resources instead of sharing them.

Back to the story of the feeding of the 5000, where we see that the crowds following Jesus around Galilee were used to living a life of scarcity. They were hungry, not only for daily bread, but for some sign of hope. Roman oppression had ground them down, and the promise of a messiah who would rescue them from Rome seemed less and less like it would be fulfilled in their lifetimes.

Then Jesus comes into the picture, healing and teaching about the kingdom of heaven. Yet even Jesus felt the sting of loss. When he learned that his cousin John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod, he grieved John’s death. He went away to be alone with his grief, but the crowds found him, and today’s reading tells us what happens next.

We have become accustomed to hearing Jesus teach the crowds, but Jesus did not do any teaching on this particular day. Matthew tells us that, even amid his own grief, Jesus had compassion on the crowds, and spent the whole day healing the sick. As the day grows long, the disciples come to Jesus with a suggestion that seems perfectly reasonable: It’s time to wind down and let the people go and buy food their dinner before the shops close for the night.

And Jesus doesn’t blink an eye. “There’s no need to send them away. You take care of them. You give them dinner.”

“But how, Lord? We have nothing but…” and the disciples look around them at the little bit of food they have, which wouldn’t even feed half of the disciples, let alone this huge crowd of people. All they see is their scarcity. All they see is what they don’t have. The disciples only see the huge gap between the vast need at hand and the limitations of their own resources. “We have nothing but a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.”

Now, I think we can identify with the disciples and their mindset of scarcity, can’t we? During this season of uncertainty, we are even more aware of what we don’t have. We can’t just go wherever we want, and where we can go, we must be careful to wear a mask, stay at least 2 metres away from others, wash our hands constantly, and meet in groups no bigger than 6. We can’t be with whomever we want, whenever we want. We can’t shake hands or hug each other.

For some of us, COVID has meant reduced income, and reduced availability of basic necessities. We are acutely aware of how vulnerable we are. We live in a mindset of scarcity.

We know also the things we’ve lost as a church, too: the worship services, prayer and study opportunities, and the mission efforts that are no longer possible. And we grieve as we feel those losses. This then leads to a sense that we want to hold on to what little we still have before it all slips away and is forgotten. We are acutely aware of how limited our own resources are.

But Jesus says, “Bring them to me.” He doesn’t argue with the disciples, and he doesn’t argue with us. He simply invites them – and us – to bring everything to him and surrender it all into his hands.

You see, It’s not about the multiplication of food.

Jesus says – “You give them something to eat,” and if the story ended there, we could take this as our mission.

When I first arrived in the Methodist Church, in The East End of London, in one of the old Mission Central Halls, I was an Anglican. I remember asking my then Superintendent Minister, Rev David Sherriff “what do I need to know about Methodists?” He shrugged his shoulders and then said, “You need to know that Methodists are very happy to provide food and fill shopping bags for hungry people; it’s just they’ve just forgotten why they do it.”

In other words, these are people who have heard Jesus say, “You give them something to eat” and got busy doing just that, without going deeper in faith, without considering the reason why we feed people in the first place. It’s because of Jesus.

Jesus knew there was no way the disciples could possibly provide enough food for so many people. But notice that he did not tell the disciples to produce the food – he told them to give the people something to eat. He knew where they would get the bread, even if the disciples had not figured it out yet.

It’s not about the number of people fed.

5,000 men plus women and children might mean at least 15,000 people if you think about it.

And some of these people gathered on that hillside above Lake Galilee might not have even been aware of the miracle Jesus was performing. They simply accepted the gift of some bread and fish with gratitude. They were glad to have their hunger satisfied. The miracle wasn’t for them – it was for the disciples.

The disciples had focused on their scarcity – ‘We have nothing but a little bread and some fish. It is not enough to feed this crowd. We have nothing but our own limitations, our own small view of what God can do. We have nothing but ourselves. And that ain’t much, Jesus.”

And what does Jesus say? “Bring it to me.”

Give me what you have and let me do something with it. Give me what you have and let me multiply it and give it back to you – not only so you will have enough, but so there will be plenty to share.

It’s about surrendering whatever we have to Christ, letting him take it, bless it, break it, and give it back to us to share with others.

Did you notice how the actions of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving are a lot like what Jesus did in the upper room on the last night he was with his disciples? Those actions are the ones we repeat every time we come to Christ’s table.

But I wonder if you recognize how the bread at this feast represents your life, as much as it does Christ’s sacrifice for us? Christ says, “Bring all of yourself to me. Bring all of your limitations to me. Bring all of your scarcity to me.” And then he takes all of what we bring, as we surrender completely to him, and he breaks us, he blesses us, and he gives us back to be shared with the world.

John Wesley insisted that the sacrament should never be refused to anyone. He saw Holy Communion as a means of grace, whereby someone receiving the bread and cup might come to know Christ. So as Methodists, we celebrate an Open Table. All who desire to receive this meal are welcome here.

But I want you to remember particularly the words of consecration we sometimes use. When we say, “Pour out your Holy Spirit, that these gifts of bread and wine may be for us the Body and Blood of Christ, that we may be his body, alive and at work in the world,” it is more than the consecration of some bread and some juice.

It is the consecration of you, whom Christ is breaking and blessing and offering to the world around you as his gift, out of his deep compassion.

So, friends, difficult though these times are, bring yourself to Jesus. Bring all of yourself to Jesus, whatever little you think you have. Let him take you, and break you, and bless you, and then let him give you away. And watch the miracle that happens as everyone has enough. Everyone is satisfied. Everyone is fed out of Christ’s abundance, and look, there is plenty enough for everyone, for in him, not bricks and mortar, not buildings, not beautiful sanctuaries, in him we have our way of being, in him we find our true identity. May it be so. Amen

Prayer

In these unprecedented times, we pray:

When we aren't sure, God, help us be calm;

when information comes from all sides, correct and not, help us to discern;

when fear makes it hard to breathe, and anxiety seems to be the order of the day, slow us down, God;

help us to reach out with our hearts, when we can't touch with our hands;

help us to be socially connected, when we have to be socially distant;

help us to love as perfectly as we can, knowing that "perfect love casts out all fear."

We hold before God our doctors, nurses, lab technicians and cleaners.

We pray for support workers and caregivers, for researchers and theorists,

for epidemiologists and investigators.

We hold before God those who are sick, and those who are grieving.

We pray, for all who are affected by Covid, all around the world...

we pray for safety, for health, for wholeness.

Loving God, may we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked and house those without homes; may we walk with those who feel they are alone, and may we do all that we can to heal the sick— in spite of the epidemic, in spite of the fear.

Help us, O God,

that we might help each other.

In the love of the Creator,

in the name of the Healer,

in the life of the Holy Spirit that is in all and with all, we pray. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer:

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.

We close todays service by listening to a challenge from a young songwriter called Kat Mills, who challenges us to find our feet and rise to feed the broken world that is all around us.



Church Arise - Lyrics

When there are just no words to say, and the pain takes our breath away,

Help us know, help us know you are here.

When the road we are travelling on, feels so hard and the journeys long,

Help us know, help us know you are here.

Let us show, show the world you are here.

O Church arise, Go to the hurting, tend to the broken.

O Church arise, Go feed the hungry, welcome the lonely.

O Church arise, Go show the Lord’s peace, cry out for justice.

O Church arise, in the name of Jesus.

When the world is a fearful place, and all rays of hope seem erased,

Help us know, help us know you are here.

When it seems like no choice is right, and we long to give up the fight,

Help us know, help us know you are here.

Let us show, show the world you are here.

O Church arise, Go to the hurting, tend to the broken.

O Church arise, Go feed the hungry, welcome the lonely.

O Church arise, Go show the Lord’s peace, cry out for justice.

O Church arise, in the name of Jesus.

To see through the eyes of Jesus; to walk in his ways of grace;

To have a heart for the broken; to live a life full of praise. (x2)

Send us out through the power of the Spirit; Send us out through the power of the Spirit;

We must go Church, it’s time to arise (Church). (x2)

O Church arise, Go to the hurting, tend to the broken.

O Church arise, Go feed the hungry, welcome the lonely.

O Church arise, Go show the Lord’s peace, cry out for justice.

O Church arise, in the name of Jesus.

O Church arise, in the name of Jesus.

O Church arise, in the name of Jesus.

©Kat Mills 2020

CCLI Song # 712802 Kat Mills

May God Bless us, break us, fill us, and use us in service of his Kingdom.

Amen.

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