A Service for the Third Sunday in Lent

Dear Friends

‘For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.’

 The passage from 1 Corinthians which is one of our readings today is one of immense power and also one that speaks to the unique quality of Christianity.

I was listening to a fascinating history programme this week, concerning the Egyptian Pharaoh, Akhenaten.  At some point during his reign as Pharaoh he declared that the god, Aten, was the only god, moving away from the centuries old practice of worshipping multiple gods.  He had temples and palaces built to Aten and took the name Akhenaten, meaning ‘the spirit of Aten’.

His vision of the only god was of one of great power who demanded worship and absolute obedience.  Aten was, for Akhenaten, a supreme leader and being.

All through history gods have been feared and worshipped and sacrifices made to them, but Christianity is unique among religions because we believe that God loved humanity so much that he himself became the ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

I personally believe that Christianity is good for our emotional and spiritual well-being because God, in Jesus, completely experienced our brokenness and entered into it so that he might mend us.  He became weak on behalf of all our weaknesses and took upon himself all of our willful wrongdoing.

This may well be looked upon as weak and foolish by many.  But, of course, the story doesn’t end there.  What looks like God’s folly and weakness in Jesus’ death on the cross, is transformed into something else completely through the resurrection.  Through the lens of the resurrection the crucifixion does not look like weakness at all, but the way to freedom and new life.

So, our own weakness and brokenness is no longer the end of the story because God himself has taken it all upon himself and offers back to us the chance of forgiveness and transformation. That does not sound like foolishness, but the ultimate wisdom, full of grace and mercy.

I enclose with this letter, a letter from June Foster which makes for a fascinating and moving read.  The young people she describes, joyfully worshipping God in places where they put themselves in danger, may be accused by some of foolishness.  But they have the experience and belief in God’s transforming power and strength and that, in my book, makes them very wise indeed.

Every blessing

Ann

Dear Friends

“For several decades a spiritual awakening among Algeria’s Berber or Amazigh people has been producing the fastest-growing Christian community in the Arabic-speaking region.  Since the network’s first broadcasts in 1996, SAT-7 has resourced this vibrant Church, initially with our Arabic programmes and, since 2012, with broadcasts in the Berber Kabyle dialect.”

This is a quotation from Sat-7’s magazine published a year ago.  

SAT-7 is a UK based charity dedicated to growing Church in the Middle East and North Africa, serving the community, and contributing to the good of society and culture.

Their aim is to provide the churches and Christians of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) an opportunity to witness to Jesus Christ through inspirational, informative, and educational television services.

Algeria was one of the places I visited on Wednesday 10^th February 2021, via Zoom and courtesy of SAT-7.  The Protestant Church of Algeria was first registered in 1974 but had to wait till 2011 for legal recognition.  Then in 2017 the gradual closure of churches began – despite freedom of religion guaranteed by Algeria’s constitution.  This movement to close churches continues. On Wednesday, George Makeen, Programming Manager spoke of the church being strong and growing but much in need of support.

Leaving Algeria I moved on to Lebanon and to Beirut in particular.   Lebanon has been at peace for 30 years, but economic mismanagement and mass protests have put its creaking political system under greater pressure than at any time since the civil war. This is an area I have been interested in for a long time.  It is now just six months since the terrible explosion close to the port.  The SAT-7 office and broadcasting centre was situated near the site of the explosion. Fortunately none of the staff were injured, but they were out quickly, serving food to rescue workers.  The city has been badly hit by the Covid 19 pandemic.  Citizens are being taken to hospital by frantic relatives trying to save lives.  Many are dying in their cars before being admitted to hospital and hospitals have run out of oxygen, yet oxygen is available on the black market!

Next to Iran and the story of Dani a young man who loved and worshipped God through his Muslim faith.  He was a serious and honourable young man, but, like many young people, he began to question his faith.  He felt there was something missing. So he tried various other routes to worship but remained dissatisfied.  His Mother, concerned for her son, placed a book on the table for him to consider.  The book was a copy of the New Testament.  Through an interpreter, he talked about how his life was changed.   He has trained to take on leadership roles and is working towards assisting other young people to find their way through Christ.

This was quite a visit to the Middle East and left me with many troublesome thoughts. But the most important thing I remember is the amazing joyfulness evident in the lives of these young people, and I would emphasise YOUNG.   Despite all the hardships they suffer every day of their lives, their love for and worship of Jesus is so real.  They were indeed “lights of the world”.

It made me question why, in this country where worshipping God is so easy, requires no effort and certainly no risk to life, is there no joyfulness.   Yes, we are saddened by the closure of Churches, but even when they are open, I do not detect the sort of joyful, light giving pleasure and thankfulness seen among those for whom worship is a risk to life and limb.

We talk of “returning to normal” when we are again free from current restrictions.  But I am not sure I want to return to “normal” as before.  I want to be part of a Christian community which expresses, through daily activities, the light of Christ in a darkened world.  And to show the joyful character of those whose lives are changed.

June Foster

Since beginning my role in September as a youth pioneer in Chard, my role has been focused on understanding what life is like for young people growing up and living in the area, and how this could shape how the church engages with young people in their own contexts. One key aspect of this process has been coming alongside existing youth work projects within Chard, supporting their work and at the same time getting to know young people in the area. This has been a great experience, and I feel that a lot of important relationship building has been able to happen as a result.

 The next step is to look at how the church can step out in a project of its own to engage with young people and explore what Christian community might look like in a different way. I believe that the first part of this will be to deliver detached youth work in Chard, something that has been missing in the community for the past few years. Detached youth work is when we spend time with young people in the places they like to hang out in. There is no set activity or structure to the sessions, but rather opportunities to have conversations with young people, listen to their stories and be a positive presence for the time we are there, building relationships with young people on their own terms.

The aim is for there to be a team of volunteers who have been trained and ready to deliver this detached work in September. This means that between now and summer, the focus of the pioneer work will be towards building a team, praying together, and making sure that all necessary training and safeguarding checks are in place. The hope is that this project will be something that all churches in Chard can be a part of, and that together we will see God transforming lives and spaces in the community in powerful ways. There is plenty of space to come on board, and if you would like to be involved in some way then it would be great to have a chat about what that could look like. I’m certainly very excited about what God will be doing in young people’s lives and am looking forward to seeing where He takes us on this journey together.

I am also providing training and support for similar work in Ilminster and hope, soon, to be able to meet with members of churches in the villages who would like to undertake some outreach to their young people.

It goes without saying that I would appreciate your prayers for our young people, for the coming together of a team of volunteers and for where God will be leading us in the coming year.

Tom Tame

Chard Youth Pioneer

Dear All

On Monday, we held the first session of our Zoom Lent course.  The reading we looked at is from Exodus Chapter 3:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

 This is one of my favourite readings from the Old Testament.  Here we learn a great deal about the nature of God and his love for his people.

But we also learn that when God called Moses he did not leave him to carry out His will on his own.  Firstly, God promises Moses that he will never be on his own.  Later, God also sends Aaron to help Moses, to be his ‘voice’. 

God calls us to do His work here on earth, but He will never leave us unequipped.  Firstly, he is always with us, through thick and thin, when the going is easy and, most especially when the going gets tough.  However, he will also provide us with what we need for the task, in the shape of others to support, care and pray for us.

Whilst I was training for ministry, my father and best friend both died.  They had been two of my greatest supporters and sources of encouragement.  I wondered if I would get through the rest of the training, but shortly after my father died, we had a new associate minister arrive at my church from Texas.  He was, and remains, a wonderful mentor and friend and he came just as I was wavering and full of fear.  God did not leave me alone but equipped me to carry on.

Secondly, God calls Moses while he is out tending his flock, something he did every day.  We may not see a burning bush, but God most often calls us through the everyday, the commonplace and the familiar.  Some people are called, like Moses, to completely change their lives, to take risks and put themselves in challenging places.  Others have quieter callings, to be the light of Christ where they are, in their community, among their friends and family.

Whatever our own calling and response to God, one thing is sure.  That we never know when we are standing on holy ground.  Even in the ordinariness of our lives, we never know when we are going to encounter God and what he might be calling us to do.  I am always reminded of one of the last lines of one of my favourite books by J D Salinger: “Seymour once said that all we do our whole lives is go from one little piece of Holy Ground to the next”.

With this letter is a newsletter from Tom Tame, our Youth Pioneer, working in Chard and around the Deanery.  Tom answered God’s call to move to Somerset and take up this work, trusting that God would not leave him on his own.  He is already equipping himself by building up a team of volunteers to go out and meet with youngsters where they congregate.  Tom is supported by the Diocese and through networks of other pioneers.  He is now asking for our support by asking us to pray for him.   I hope that you will do this as he sets out on this exciting venture and pray that he will find holy ground in many different places.

At the end of our Lent course, we were asked to take the following prayer from the Book of Numbers and say it quietly or silently for some of the people we talk to or pass by, for homes of people we know and for schools, offices, shops and farms we may pass on our walks.  We might also say it for people or situations that we see on our TVs or hear about on our radios:

“The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

the Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.”   (Numbers 6: 24-26)

A simple prayer, but if we were all to be silently saying this for others, think how powerful that would be.

Every blessing

Ann

God’s Covenant with his people never to flood the whole land again is the message of our first reading this week.

And haven’t rainbows featured large in lockdown, there are still rainbows in peoples windows and on their fences placed there as a sign of unity and thankfulness for the NHS and all working on the frontline of helping those suffering from Corona virus. The rainbow has been used as a sign of peace throughtout the years a place of non conflict and protest peacefully. It has been used as a symbol for the Gay Pride movement  on rallies since 1978. We hear people talk about their pet having gone over the rainbow when they pass away.

Rainbows are a sign to gladden our hearts when we see it in the sky and as a symbol around us. And who can forget the colorful rainbow jumper of Nick Aston on the Time Team programmes. I have just received a bag of rainbow colours in the post to make two rainbow jumpers for our little Granchildren who love to see them in the sky.

Rainbows cheer and encourage us when it rains and the sunshines through, that all is not lost that God has placed it to remind us that he watches over us, and who doesn’t love a double one.

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, we came before God to ask for forgiveness where we have carried on in our own sweet ways, to have the opportunity to reflect in these 40 days of wilderness time, on the challenges that lie in each of our lives, the things that obsess us, or take us away from God. A chance to do something different that can re-align our focus back to the path. We used the symbol of ash rather than receiving it upon ourselves directly. We are encouraged to take something up rather than just lying down.

Be inspired if you can, in ways that interest you and that you can engage with.

We are going to come together as community to look at Jesus the light of the world in our Lent Course, which is on Monday mornings 10.30. Can I encourage you to come, as we share ideas together and look at scripture, even if you can’t make every week, do what you can. If you are reading this and thinking I can’t come because I don’t have a computer or do zoom, come in on the telephone, it costs no more than a local call and you can fully participate.

In fact maybe the challenge for you could be to come to the Lent Course especially if you have never been to one before, make this the new thing for this year.

In Mark, he wants us to see that God’s love was being shown on the day Jesus went down into the water of Baptism in the Jordan, John protesting, Jesus insisting, (not in Mark though) and the Holy Spirit coming upon him to equip him for the ministry, but first the challenge of the temptation in the wilderness.

The place where the Spirit leads him where there is conflict and tempation to be faced.

Charles Royden writes:  “Jesus is shown tempted, surrounded by wild beast and angels. Many people will be able to look inside their own souls and understand the imagery of beasts and angels, the good and the bad at war within our own spiritual nature. In placing Jesus with wild beasts in the wilderness, Mark is making an important point. Protection from wild beasts was considered a sign of God’s blessing, remember Daniel and the lions? Yet there is more than this, the episode has the message of paradise restored. Where Adam had failed, Jesus was now setting things right. The peaceful existence with wild animals, the service of angels, overcoming Satan, all form part of the new order which Jesus brings. No wonder Jesus is shown to speak the words ‘ The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

We are told that he is also “with the wild beasts.” What is meant by this reference to wild beasts ? People in the first century might have identified the “wild beasts” with those spoken of by the prophet Daniel: “I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another (7:2).” The “great beasts” of Daniel have been identified as the political powers of the world, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Mark might therefore be proposing this confrontation: Satan and worldly political powers on the one side versus Jesus and the angels on the other. This theme will continue throughout Mark, for we are reminded that the worldly political powers are continuing to assert their influence. Immediately after Jesus’ encounter in the wilderness, Mark tells us that John the Baptist has just been arrested by those same powers. Throughout the Gospel, Mark delivers a devastating political commentary. He is saying that the powers of the world–the Jerusalem establishment and Rome–are in league with Satan. Jesus’ struggle with these demonic powers takes place in the political realm, i.e. this world, but Mark also wants his readers to understand that that struggle is also a spiritual, i.e. cosmic, battle.”

Yes that battle goes on still today. Be equipped and armoured in the Holy Spirit to face the struggles of each day, but also to receive the wonders of God’s love for you as we begin this Lentern journey into the wilderness

Be Blessed

Rev’d Georgina