Prophecy - Challenge and Promise

In our services on Sunday we turned to the Prophets and the way they offer us a challenge and a promise. In the first part of our GIFT course we are exploring the Word of Life and seeing how the words of the Bible become the Word of God for us as we make connections between the world of the Bible and the world of today. Today we turn to the Prophets, the challenge they give to today's world and the words of hope they share.

From the Notice Sheet

Text of the Week:   When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”   Luke 15:5-6

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshiping with us for the first time. There’s not much point coming to church unless it connects with the real world we all of us live in. That’s the whole point of coming to church! Reading the Bible is at the heart of what we do precisely because it connects in a remarkable way with the real world. Take the prophets. They lived for the most part in very turbulent times when those in power got richer and the powerless often had what little they had taken from them. What they had to say amounted to an indictment of those who abused power and it pointed the way towards setting things right. It’s remarkable to see how many connections can be made between the world they knew and the world we know. More than that they had a remarkable sense of hope and promise even when it was hard to be optimistic. Their hope was rooted in the reality of the God who was with them through all of life.  That’s the hope we desperately need in our world today. It’s not just that there are connections to be made. As we go from this place today maybe we can take up the mantle of those prophetic voices and look out for things that need setting right in our homes, in our workplace, in our world at large. And we can draw on these age-old writers and thinkers to set about putting them right. And we too can draw on a very real sense of hope and promise in spite of all we see around us in the world. And if you don’t feel up to the task, take heart, none of those ancient prophets did either!

Welcome and Call to Worship

356 Dear Lord and Father

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Passing on the mantle

Taking it up!

It took some doing to stand his ground. All that was going on was pretty awful – the people suffered while those in power got more and more power only to abuse the very people they claimed to serve – Ahab was bad enough but Jezebel – her very name has become a byword for power, the abuse of power and all that is awful. It took some doing for him to stand his ground. He knew God stood for something so very different. But God sometimes didn’t seem to be there – for his king, for his people and for him.

And so at one point he fled. How he longed for something to clinch it, something to show how real, how powerful this God was. Yet he couldn’t find him not even in the awesome might and power of nature in the raw. Not in the earthquake.  Not in the wind.  Not in the fire. And then it was he sensed how real God was – in the still small voice of calm.

His travels took him far and wide – much further and much wider than many people wanted. His travels took him far beyond the boundaries of the nation he had come to serve. It was God who took him there. Hungry, nowhere to stay he found himself in the far off town of Zarephath. And of all people it was a woman he came to depend on. She had lost her husband … not that she had much to offer. Scarcely enough grain to make the tiniest of loaf for herself and her son.

But he knew God would provide. “Do not be afraid,” he said to her. She baked gave some to him and then took some for herself and for her son. And remarkably the jar of meal and the jug of oil did not run out … the first day, the second day … for many, many days.

But then tragedy struck.  The widow’s son became ill. Desperately ill. When he collapsed and died she turned on the stranger she had welcomed in – it’s your fault she said. “Give me your son,” he said, he carried him gently to an upper room where he laid him on his bed and prayed to God … he laid on him, three times, and then the boy coughed and breathed and lived. He took the child, brough him down from the upper room and said, “See, your son is alive”. And the widow knew this was a man of God and the word of the Lord he spoke was true.

And his name was Elijah.

And he did serve many. And he did stand his ground. And it cost him dear. And he knew he had to train someone up to take on the task he had when the time was ripe. It was a youngster who worked out in the fields, in charge of 12 pairs of oxen ploughing that seemed just right. The same kind of vision, the same kind of sensitivity, the same kind of sense of the presence of God. And so Elijah and Elisha became something of a team. With the death of the king and the death of the queen all looked to be so much more promising. Until the next king came to power. And he was as bad as they come.

The partnership was not to last for long. Elijah was getting older now. He knew his days were numbered.

He set off through the wilderness and said to Elisha. Stay here. Don’t come with me. But Elisha said, I will never leave you. The road took them down to the city of Jericho and Elijah said, don’t come with me. But Elisha said, I will never leave you. And they came down throught he desert to the river Jordan. And Elijah said, stay here, don’t come with me. But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives and as long as I live, I will never leave you.”

The two came down to the river – and Elijah took off his mantle, rolled it up and holding it in front of him he passed through the waters to the far side of the Jordan. And Elisha crossed with him.

“What is it you want of me?” the older man asked the younger. It’s your spirit I would love to have, he said.  Watch as I go forward, keep watch and do not fail to watch.

Elijah went forward and Elisha waited and he watched and what he saw was the most remarkable vision of a chariot of fire taking Elijah up into heaven to the safety, and the peace and the presence of God.

He looked to the ground. And there on the ground he saw the mantle, the cloak Elijah had always worn.

He took up the mantle … passed through the waters once more and he walked into the future. He followed in Elijah’s footsteps.

Passing it on!

He stood his ground. Though it cost him dear. War was the order of the day. Times were difficult – and Elisha found himself helping a widow who needed oil each day and oil was always there. Not too much, not too little, just the right amount. And on his travels he could not go it alone. He knew he needed someone

On his travels it was a Shunammite woman who helped him and gave him somewhere to live. When she gave birth to a son so unexpectedly there was much joy. Joy turned to despair when the son died. And Elisha it was the Shunammite woman turned to … when Elisha came into the house he saw the child lying dead on the bed. As Elijah had done before. He lay upon the child, putting his mouth upon his mouth – and as he lay over him the flesh of the child became warm and the spark of life came back to him. And he lived. And there was great joy.

His travels took him far and wide … far beyond the bounds of his own country … and of all people the one he found himself helping was a high-up commander in the enemy army of the Syrian people. Naaman by name who suffered from leprosy. But Elisha it was who tended to him and brought him healing. A story for another time.

Elijah passed on the mantle to Elisha. Elisha took up the mantle and passed it on too … and the remarkable thing is that for generations people were around to take up the mantle and follow in the footsteps of Elijah and Elisha.

For as long as there were kings in the kingdom there were prophets who stood their ground, had an authority that made its mark as they were mighty in deed and in word.

But the kingdoms fell. First the north. And then the south. And when the people returned, there were prophets a while.

But there seemed to be no one around to take up the mantle.

Years passed. Decades passed. Centuries passed. And things were pretty bad in the big wide world. Empires had come and gone. But this Romoan empire was pretty awesome in its power.

The time was ripe. It was time for someone to take his stand. Word spread. Someone had taken up the mantle. He looked just like Elijah and Elisha. He dressed the same way.

He had a powerful message. What’s needed is a whole new way of thinking. The kingdom’s coming, God’s kingdom it’s upon you, God’s kingdom, God’s rule … that’s what counts.

His name was John, John the Baptist they called him.

But the authorities were out to get him. His days were numbered. And then someone came. Down into the waters of the Jordan. And up out of the waters of the Jordan. And the Spirit of God was upon him. This was the one John had been waiting for and he knew it.

Not long after he was captured.

And then it was Jesus took up the mantle – and took the message on.

What’s needed is a whole new way of thinking. The kingdom’s coming, God’s kingdom it’s upon you, God’s kingdom, God’s rule … that’s what counts.

What would this rule of God be like? It was in his own home town of Nazareth, in that place where people gathered together each week to read from the scriptures that he made it plain.

It was to one of the greatest of all the prophets who took up the mantle from Elijah and from Elisha, Isaiah that he read …

Reading: Luke 4:16-22

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the words of grace  that came from his mouth.

But then they began to wonder. Wasn’t this Joseph’s son?

Their wondering turned to rage when Jesus drove his point home with a story from Elijah and a story from Elisha – and they didn’t like what they were reminded of.

Luke 4:24-28

he truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’

God’s kingdom is jnot just for our poor, but for everyone, no matter where they are or where they are from. Not just for our captives, not just for our blind. But for everyone, no matter where they are or where they are from.

And at that their amazement turned to rage. And they sought to do to Jesus what the people had done to so many of the prophets before – they sought to put him to death.

Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

Taking up the mantle …

Unworthy Inadequate Useful

I love that idea of passing on the mantle.

Elijah knew he couldn’t keep going for ever.

He found a youngster to come alongside him and learn from him.

And when the time came for Elijah’s passing he passed on the mantle.

There’s so much in that story. I love the way Elijah wants to face his passing alone, but Elisha determines to go with him. To journey with him right the way through.

There’s something curious about the world of rugby.

The English sing the story of Elijah and Elisha at every rugby match.

Swing low, sweet chariot coming for to take me home …

While the Welsh sing echoes of the same story … when I tread the verge of Jordan bid my anxious fears subside, death of death and hell’s destruction land me safe on Canaan’s side.

OK, it’s not quite the same story – but it’s using this image of the river as that passing from death to life.

What I like about this story is the way Elisha stays with Elijah. I will go with you “As the Lord lives, and as you yoursaelf live, I will not leave you.”

When someone is approaching their death – we can travel so far with them – and it is so good to make that journey with them. But there comes a point at which they must travel further and we must stay behind.

Sometimes there’s that feeling of ‘taking up the mantle’.

The mantle is passed on through the prophets. It’s taken up by John the Baptist. It’s taken up by Jesus. It’s interesting that Jesus then draws people together so they can take up the mantle from him. Jesus wants his followers not to be passive just journeying … but to be active – making disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything he had commanded.

Some may have a special calling to be prophets – but all have a task to take up the mantle in some way and make that voice of Jesus heard in today’s world.

In taking up the mantle from Jesus we have things to learn from the prophets who went before.

What the prophets thought, what they did, what they made of the world of their day in some ways is tied to that time … but in other ways it is timeless and speaks to every generation.

What the prophets thought, what they did, what they made of the world and what they said is recorded in the Bible in the book of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings and then in the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and in the Book of the Twelve.

Let’s take two of the great Prophets.

First is Isaiah – lives in the 8^th Century BC, based in Jerusalem at a turbulent time when the once proud nation of Israel has divided into two kingdoms - Isaiah knows all that’s happening in the Northern Kingdom but he is based in the southern kingdom. Those in power seem forever to be getting things wrong. What he has to say is recorded in Isaiah 1-39 – and you can read up the story of the Kings who were in power during his lifetime in II Kings.

Next is Jeremiah – lives in the 7^th century BC, again is based in Jerusalem. By his time the Northern Kingdom is no more. All that’s left is the small southern kingdom. And things look pretty bleak as a major world power threatens to do its worst. Jeremiah’s writings are found in the book of Jeremiah and you can read the tragic story of the Kings who were in power during his lifetime in II Kings.

One thing leaps off the page at me when I read up the story of the Prophets against the backdrop of what’s happening at the time. And that is that it’s a world I recognize. It’s a world where those in power too often get it wrong. It’s a world where world-powers are a threat to peace and stability. It’s the world of the kind of headlines we are only too accustomed to.

And into that world these two people are charged with speaking something of God’s word – it’s as if their challenge is to bring the God dimension into the everyday world of their time.

I have a feeling that’s what Jesus is calling us to do who follow in his footsteps. It is to try to figure out what God’s way is for the world – what God is saying in it all.

If our task as followers of Jesus is to put the God dimension into the world – is to say what God has to say about the world. How do you feel about that task.

And the first point I want to make is that it’s scary. And we cannot do it. We’re not up to it.

That’s exactly as Isaiah and Jeremiah felt.

They were not up to it.

So, Isaiah, tell us about that occasion when you had a vision of God and sensed how real God was

Isaiah              In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 

That must have been quite some experience. In your mind’s eye you were in that most holy of holy places in the temple and what did you see in that vision?

Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

It must be hard to put it into words. But in that moment you really felt how real God was. So how did you feel? What did it feel like being in the presence of God. What came into your mind? Did you say anything?

 And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Let’s bring Jeremiah in. Tell us, Jeremiah. Your experience was a little different. You were quite a young man when you felt as if you had a real call from God.

Jeremiah:                   Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’ 

What did that feel like? Were you excited? Or did it fill you with fear and trepidation? Were you up for the task? Or were you conscious of your own inadequacies?

Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’

Let’s just pause there a moment – isn’t that fascinating. Here are two of the great figures of the Bible story and they simply sense their own inadequacies. They are not up for the task. Isaiah is not worthy. Jeremiah is just too young and not up for the job.

Do you feel inadequate? Do you feel unworthy? You are in good company!

So, Isaiah, tell us how did you deal with that sense of unworthiness. Let me put that another way, how did God deal with this incredible sense of unworthiness you had?

Isaiah:             Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 

That must have been a remarkable moment – the moment when you realised that God is forgiving, a God of grace, a God who actually reaches out to people who are not worthy.  So what happened next:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’ 

Jeremiah, how did you cope with this sense that you were not ready, you were too young, you were simply inadequate? Put that another way – did you feel God would look for someone better qualified? Or did you sense something else about this  God who was calling …

Jeremiah                    But the Lord said to me,
‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,

says the Lord.’ 

Isaiah had a very tough message to share with the people of his day. Jeremiah an even tougher message to share with the people of his day. There are tough things to say from God.

So, if you feel unworthy, if you feel inadequate … think of the way God renews and the way God empowers. We can only follow Christ as we accept the forgiveness he gives is for us in our hearts and we can only do as he wants us to as we have a strength from beyond ourselves, the strength of the Holy Spirit.

MTS 10: I the Lord of sea and sky

Setting things right

When you read the prophets you can, with gross over-simplification, see that all the way through their message has to do with two things. First they offer a critique of what’s wrong with the world and how you should put it right. They measure what goes on in the world by what they sense God wants for the world. God’s way for the world is basically summed up in the Ten Commandments. The summary of those commandments is summed up brilliantly in a very Jewish way by Jesus – love God and love your neighbour.

Prophets speak out strongly as an indictment of what’s wrong. Often they speak in terms of judgment. What they do is analyse what’s happening in their world as it is shaped by those in power and they basically say: if you can on doing this … that will happen. And it will be pretty grim. If you take seriously the way God maps out then things will hang together much more effectively.

There are three prophets who are roughly contemporary with Isaiah from the 8^th Century – their analysis of what’s wrong is much the same as Isaiah’s. And their recipe to set things right is much the same too. Amos and Hosea are based in the North and Micah in the South.

Let’s invite Amos to join Isaiah.

Isaiah had his vision in the year that king Uzziah died. You had already been speaking out for God before that hadn’t you? Weren’t you among some of the farming community in the north …

Amos              … the shepherds of Tekoa … in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam, son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

That was a pretty turbulent time, wasn’t it. If I recall from my reading there was a lot of complacency. When it came to thinking of God people just wanted to have really great times of worship … and they didn’t want to get involved in shaping what society should be like. There was some wonderful times of worship, weren’t there? They were great singers. But what did you feel that God was saying to the people? Did he have anything to say about their worship, about their priorities? What did you think God was saying – put it in God’s words …

I hate, I despise your festivals,
   and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,
   I will not accept them;
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
   I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
   I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

But let justice roll down like waters,
   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 

The prophets work out what that would mean in their day … and we need to in ours. We need to say what’s wrong and how we could put it right. These are the principles of justice. When Jesus took up the mantle from John the Baptist he was stepping into the shoes of this great line of prophets.

There is a challenge to our complacency – at every turn it is our task to try to work out what that means in our society. We can take that analysis, see the way Jesus took it forward .. and speak out.

There’s critique and analysis, scathing indictment of what’s wrong – a pattern for what is right – and that is the message of the prophets.

Hymn: The kingdom of God is justice and joy

Hope and Promise

But there is something else – promise and hope too.

There were three contemporaries of Jeremiah in those even more troubled times. Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah.

Favourite among the three for me is Habakkuk.

He was in Jerusalem as the Babylonian world power was approaching, as the siege engines were being put in place. Jeremiah was there too. Jeremiah had a great hope for the future. He bought a field – as if to say – there’s going to be a future in spite of everything.

Habakkuk stood with the watchmen on the towers of the city and saw the advancing armies – and what he saw was pretty terrifying. He, like all the others sensed God with him. And then he expressed some wonderful words.

These are words to hold on to when we feel on the point of being overwhelmed by the awful things happening in our world. Hold on to the hope. Hold on to the promise.

Habakkuk                  Though the fig tree does not blossom,
   and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails
   and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold
   and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
   I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and makes me tread upon the heights. 

Three things to remember

However unworthy you feel, however inadequate , God is with you to forgive, to renew, to restore – look to Jesus and know it’s true.

God’s word offers a critique of what’s wrong in our world and the way to set things right – our responsibility is to work through what that takes – and we do that as followers of Jesus, the Jesus who brought to fulfilment that message of the prophets

There’s always hope – a firm hope that hope expressed so powerfully by Habakkuk is a hope we share that is rooted in Jesus and the presence of Jesus with us come what may.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

333 The kingdom of God is justice and joy

OBG 39 For I’m building + Come, let’s follow the way of the Lord

Prayers of Concern

581 Glory be to God

Words of Blessing

Text of the Week: Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any who are worshipping with us for the first time. It’s a book to change people’s lives. That’s maybe why it was kept under lock and key. But once it got out there was no stopping it. In our service today we have three stories to tell. And we’ll finish with a story we’re part of that’s still going on. What we do when we leave this coming week will alter the course of that story.  The first story is the story of a man of great courage who determined to get the Bible into the hands of ordinary people. The second story is the story of the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament. The third story is the story of the second part of the Bible, the New Testament. Taken together that’s nothing less than the story of salvation not just for all humanity but for each one of us here today. And we are part of the story. As we take break that is broken and drink of the cup that we share we become part of the story. And the next part of the story is down to each one of us as we go from here into the week that lies ahead. Will that love of God whose story is told in the Bible reach out through us and touch other people’s lives in such a way as to change them this week? What a story we have to tell

Text of the Week: At that time Jesus went up a

hill to pray and spent the whole night there

praying to God. Luke 6:12

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to any

who are worshipping with us for the first time. It’s a book to

change people’s lives. That’s maybe why it was kept under lock

and key. But once it got out there was no stopping it. In our

service today we have three stories to tell. And we’ll finish with

a story we’re part of that’s still going on. What we do when we

leave this coming week will alter the course of that story.

The first story is the story of a man of great courage who

determined to get the Bible into the hands of ordinary people.

The second story is the story of the first part of the Bible, the

Old Testament. The third story is the story of the second part

of the Bible, the New Testament. Taken together that’s nothing

less than the story of salvation not just for all humanity but for

each one of us here today. And we are part of the story.

As we take bread that is broken and drink of the cup that we

share we become part of the story. And the next part of the

story is down to each one of us as we go from here into the

week that lies ahead. Will that love of God whose story is told

in the Bible reach out through us and touch other people’s lives

in such a way as to change them this week? What a story we

have to tell

Morning Worship

Welcome and Call to Worship

24 O Worship the King

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

A Man of Courage

William Tyndale’s story

Reading: Acts 12:1-5

A Hy-Spirit Song

Welcome and Call to Worship

24 O Worship the King

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

A Man of Courage

The William Tyndale Story

Reading: Acts 12:1-5

A Hy-Spirit Song

Activities for all over 3

Introduction to sermon

I love heroic stories of faith. What an inspiration they are. William Tyndale standing his ground to put a copy of the Bible into the hands of the ploughboy so he could read the Bible for himself. This term’s value at St John’s school I courage – so in my two assemblies I told the story of Peter being imprisoned and refusing to be silenced – and linked it with Martin Luther King. I told more of the story of Peter and Herod Agrippa’s determination to execute him on the anniversary of the crucifixion of Jesus and the way the church was praying for his release and he was released. I coupled it with the story of Irina Ratushinskaya, Christian Poet who stood her ground for freedom in the Soviet Union and spent most of the 80’s in prison – someone we had been praying for in the 80’s – and then on her release wrote her story, came to the Literature festival I bought her book, queued up for it to be signed, said haltingly we were praying for you and she added to her greeting the pharse it works. I think of the Egyptian minister married to someone born and registered a Muslim who has become a  Chrsitian who is in Jordan facing horrendous repercussions and the request we p-ray for them.

I love heroic stories of faith. What an inspiration they are! Or are they? I was once taken to task for telling yet more such illustrations. They don’t inspire me at all, I was told. They make me feel only too aware of my own weakness, my own frailty my own failings. Far from being an inspiration they make me feel quite down.

That’s to my mind what makes the Bible such an inspiration. Even those you might think of as the heroes of the Bible make a mess of things.

I think of Genesis 1-11 as a a great magisterial prologue to the Bible – all its great themes are there. After the poetry of chapter one and the wonder and awe of God’s creation come a sequence of larger than life stories set at the beginning of time but all about the here and now in every generation, our own included. It’s all about the mess people get into in their lives – the mess individuals get into when they do the wrong thing – that’s the Adam and Eve story; the mess famiilies get into when they fall out – that’s the Cain and Abel story.  The mess the world gets into when nations turn to violence – that’s the story of the flood and Noah’s Ark. The mess the world gets into when people abuse power and seek to become like god – that’s the Tower of Babel Story.

The wonderful thing in each of those stories is that God comes in and gives those people each in turn a second chance. It’s as if the message is that no situation is so bad that God cannot bring something good out of it.

The prologue over then comes a story that begins at Genesis 12 and goes on through the rest of the Bible. You can think of it as a story told in two parts, with a sequel. And the story has a theme. It’s the story of salvation. It’s not a story of heroic faith, though there are great heroes of the faith whose story is told. It’s a story of people who make a mess of things. No matter what the mess God is there putting things right.

It’s actually a very simple story … and one that has been passed on down the generations and one for us to pass on too.

One of the quirky things we do in our church services is a bit different from what a lot of churches do nowadays. We don’t just sing in order to praise God, we don’t put all our singing together at the start of what we do. In what we sing we tell the story of our faith – one idea of that is that actually in singing the words of a hymn we can somehow make those words our own – we can say this is something worth singing about.

I came across a hymn this week that sums up the two parts of the Bible’s story and points us towards the sequel too. I was intererested to find that Peter Brooks who wrote it studied with some of the people I studied with when I was at College. It’s a hymn that somehow sums up how the Bible story works for me.

The first verse of the hymn sums up for me the first part of the Bible

CH4 605 Thanks to God verse 1

1          Thanks to God whose Word was spoken
            in the deed that made the earth.          - that’s creation
            His the voice that called a nation,
            his the fires that tried her worth.        - that’s the rest of the OT
            God has spoken: God has spoken:
            Praise him for his open Word.            - somehow the God of

                                                                        creation is speaking to us

                                                                        through all these words his

                                                                        Word of life, that open

                                                                        Word.

The first part of the story starts at Genesis 12 as God becomes involved with one couple and then their family as their family becomes a nation – it’s the story that begins with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph and leads on through Moses and Joshua, the judges and the kings – it’s a story commented on by the prophets, it’s a story reflected on by poets and sages. It’s the story of the Old Testament. And interestingly in the Old Testament there’s a passage that comes to be used as a classic statement that goes to the heart of the story.

I had a week of school assemblies this week – Belmont’s harvest, Charlton Kings with a harvest hymn as they were preparing for harvest. The rhythm of the year. It was in the harvest that people were always to remember the core of the story that became the story of the Old Tetament. It’s a story in three sentences. It’s like the framework the whole of the Old Testament is built on.

God uses all sorts of people and shapes them -

OT story: Deuteronomy 26:5-9

‘A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

God shapes a nation from a mixed bunch of people who trace their ancestry back to Abraham and Sarah and who know what it is to be treated as foreigners. They also know what it is to face hardship and devastation.

When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labour on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

It’s the wonderful insight that God is there with his people in the horrors they experience – always there with them. He is a god who acts to deliver his people. Then comes the exodus story.

 The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

This is the key story – and then the rest of the OT story tells how the people settled in the land and how they continually made a mess of things … and how through all that happened God was at work bringing his love and his blessing through to the wider world.

There’s a sense of the story of salvation pressing forward until the coming of Jesus.

And so the second verse of our hymn tells the second part of the story.

2          Thanks to God whose Word incarnate
            human flesh has glorified,                  that’s the coming of Christ
            who by life and death and rising         lie and teaching, death and

                                                                        resurrection has brought

                                                                        something remarkable
            grace abundant has supplied.
            God has spoken: God has spoken:
            Praise him for his open Word.

That too is summed up in a number of passages in the New Testament. In the Book of Acts Luke records some of the very first preaching of the message that lies at the heart of the New Testament. It is a message summed up in each of those passages – wonderfully in these words of Peter in Acts 10:34-43

 Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

That’s the starting point of the second part of the story – in Jesus the whole of the first part of the story has reached its fulfillment – now the love of God reaches out with remarkable blessing to all the world. That’s the message that came with Jesus.

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

That’s the life and teaching of Jesus – recorded in the Gospels. The Gospels tell this story.

 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem.

That’s what all these letters are and the rest of the New  Testament – the witness to the story of Jesus. And this story is a life-transforming story.

They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.  He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’

This is the story of the New Testament. It’s nothing less than the story of salvation.

The climax of the story is a wonderful sense of the love of God in forgiveness. It’s not a heroic story of faith. It’s the story of people who make a mess of things.  And it’s a story of the restoration that comes through the forgiveness that is so real.

That’s what makes the Bible so very special … and it is something to change and transform people’s lives. That’s why it is good to share it round. When we were remembering Kathleen Smith the other day in our service of thanksgiving some of Hilda Read’s family were there. Hilda was one of those lovely older people in the church family. One thing I will remember of her was that she had a new Bible – the Good News Bible – and it was almost falling apart – on her bedside table she turned to it a lot and she found in it something for al the mess lif has – something that brings God’s grace in Christ into our hearts.

Heroic stories of faith? They have their place. So much greater and more valuable is the Bible with its two part story of salvation that draws us to the God who makes a difference in our lives.

3          Thanks to God whose Word was written
            in the Bible's sacred page,
            Record of the revelation
            showing God to every age.
            God has spoken: God has spoken:
            Praise him for his open Word.

4          Thanks to God whose Word is published
            in the tongues of every race.
            See its glory undiminished
            by the change of time or place.
            God has spoken: God has spoken:
            Praise him for his open Word.

Let’s have a moment or two of quiet and then share in a prayer … leading into Hy-Spriit

God of Love,

The Bible tells us that you made the world and everything in it.

Help us to take care of all that you have made.

The Bible tells us stories of mistakes and forgiveness.

Help us to see ourselves and others

as you see us.

The Bible tells us of judges, kings, queens and heroes.

Give wisdom to the rulers of this and every nation.

The Bible tells us of fighting, and injustice.

Give peace to your broken world.

The Bible tells us that you love your people.

Help us to love you, too.

The Bible tells us that you are always with us, to the end of time.

Help us to work with you to build your kingdom.

The Bible tells us to love one another.

Help us to be kind, and to stand up for all those

who cannot stand up for themselves.

The Bible tells us that you have a purpose for each of us.

Help us to be all that you created us to be

HySpirit song of prayer and worship

Prayers of concern

If the Bible is a story in two parts, there is a sequel to the story. And we are part of that story. AS we break bread together and share in the cup we are putting ourselves into the story – and as it were putting Jesus into our story.

Here as we gather in Jesus name, as we take the  bread as we drink of the cup the presence of the risen Lord Jsus Chrfist is with us. And as we go from this place we take that presence with us into all that lies ahead of us come what may.

And so there is one more verse of that hymn for us to sing …

Verse 5 – leading into communion

5          Thanks to God whose Word is answered
            by the Spirit's voice within.
            Here we drink of joy unmeasured,
            life redeemed from death and sin.
            God is speaking: God is speaking:
            Praise him for his open Word.

The story of Communion

506 God, whose almighty word

What does the Bible say about creation?

Text of the week:  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6

Welcome to our services today and a special welcome to anyone worshipping with us. Today is Sunday Special … with a difference. The children and young people are going to start in their groups – so if there are any children in your family please take them through to join Andrea and the others in the hall. The rest of us will once again be seeking to Grow In Faith Together as we dig more deeply into the Bible and discover how it is very much for us all The Word of Life. We live in the wonderful world of God’s creation: and the Bible has a great deal to tell us about creation. It’s all too easy to confine what the Bible says about creation to the first couple of chapters of Genesis. In truth, the poet-theologians, story-tellers, wisdom writers, prophets, psalmists, evangelists, apostles and visionaries of the Bible celebrate the wonder of God’s creation in all sorts of different ways. They all challenge us to care for God’s world. At the end of our service the children and young people will re-join us as we ask so … what next? One of their leaders, Louise, invites any of us who want to join her next Saturday at a Cheltenham churches’ lobby of our MP, Alex Chalk, in Charlton Kings as we ask him questions about our country’s response to the Paris climate agreement and plans to care for the environment. And if you aren’t going that, why not join us for the first of our GIFT course days at North Nibley?

Welcome and Call to Worship                     [celebrating God’s creation]

283 All things bright and beautiful

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

The legacy project is under way. The building works have begun. People are meeting in different rooms. Have you been in room 1 rcently.

I found myself with some of the youngsters in room one the other day. And before long one of them had spotted the display on the wall. Have you seen it.

The seven days of creation.

It prompted all sorts of questions. Where was God before the world was created?  What happened to God after the seven days? Then the observations id didn’t happen that way. Where did the light come from if the sun hadn’t been made yet?

The questions came thick and fast … and it was one of those occasions when my mind went completely blank.  I knew what I wanted to say but I couldn’t think of the right words to say it!

So, I want you to look at the picture. And I want you to think – how would you answer the questions of a child – who has reached the top end of junior school or even the start of secondary school and who probably knows more about dinosaurs and fossils than you do … and who has learned at school lots of things about the big bang and about evolution. And who doesn’t have much time for the idea that God created the whole world as it is in seven days.

How would you begin to respond?

 Share some thoughts.

I had a bit of a sleepless night that night – and around 4 in the morning in my half awake, half asleep state I wrote a letter to my friends who had been asking all the questions. I thought I would not venture to give my answer. But I would seek to give my response.

I have since written the letter.

Here it is.

Dear Friends,

We had a great time the other day. And you came up with some brilliant ideas about the pictures on the wall in the room where we were meeting.

I’ve been thinking about all those questions you both came up with!

Where did God come from in the first place? How can there be light before the sun? Was the world really made in seven days? Didn’t it all really start with a big bang? What happened to God after the first seven days?

Let me tell you what I think.

The pictures on the wall are based on the very first chapter of the Bible. It’s all about God, the world and everything in it.

BUT IT’S NOT SCIENCE.

It wasn’t written by scientists.

The words were recited and then written down by people who lived three and a half thousand years ago. They lived much closer to nature than we do. What they saw in the world made them excited. It filled them with wonder. They saw the sun rise and set. They saw the moon and the stars light up the night sky. They saw fish in the sea, birds in the air, wild animals in the countryside around.

And all they saw made them want to say, “Wow! That’s amazing!”

They felt it was great just to be alive!

They felt it was great just to be!

They knew that in all they could see there was life and there was power.

And they sensed that there was some force, some power, some being in all that they could see that was greater than them and greater than anything they could see. This life-giving power they called God.

They wanted to put all their thoughts together and pass those thoughts on so others could see just how amazing the world of nature was. They wanted everyone to see just how amazing God was.

And so they came up with a Powerful Poem all about the wonder of the world of God’s creation.

You can read that poem for yourself. It begins in Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 and it ends in Genesis chapter 2 verse 4.

That’s what I would love you to remember. This is Poetry not Science.

In this kind of poem poets have a really big idea they believe is true. They then want to find a way of getting across their idea that will catch people’s imagination. They build their whole poem around that idea. They then choose the words they use carefully. They create word pictures. They create patterns in words by repeating them and giving them a rhythm. It’s when you speak the poem out loud that you spot the patterns, the rhythms and the word pictures best.

Sometimes poems are spoken out loud and then written down and then thrown away. And sometimes they are spoken out loud and then written down and people keep them because somehow they say something really important.

This is a poem that people kept and treasured and passed on. They saw the poet’s big idea, and they too came to believe that bid idea was true. And I am one of those people who have come to love this poem. I believe its big idea is true. And I believe it contains lots of truths that are as true now as they were when the poem was first written.

What do you think the poet’s really big idea was?

I think this was the poet’s really big idea: the wonderful world of nature is the wonderful world of God’s creation.

How do you think the poet catches people’s imagination?

I think the poet comes up with something really brilliant and makes the framework for the poem the days of the week.

Can you spot any patterns in the words of the poem?

I notice a number of patterns:

•           each section begins with the same words: “And God said”.

•           Somewhere in the middle of each section another set of words is used each time: “And it was so”.

•           Most sections then include the words “And God saw that it was good”.

•           Each section finishes with the words: “And there was evening and there was morning the ... day”.

People felt this poem helped them see the wonderful world of nature in a new way. It helped them see the wonderful world of nature as the wonderful world of God’s creation. People felt deep down that this poetry was full of the most wonderful truth of all.

I am one of those people who thinks this is a brilliant poem that really does get across the great big truth that the wonderful world we live in is the world of God’s creation.

And it gets across all sorts of other truths as well. In God’s creation wonderful patterns emerge out of chaos. Every human being has something of God in them. That means we too can be creators. But we must have respect for other people. And we must look after the world of God’s creation.

It may be poetry and not science but the words of this poem are full of truth. And that’s something lots of scientists believe as well. There are three in particular that one day I hope you will come to read.

John Polkinghorne is a Physicist and a Cosmologist who did lots of original thinking as a scientist and was also a Christian – in fact he was a Christian like me. His books are brilliant.

Like you, I love looking for fossils. Simon Conway Morris has been Professor of Evolutionary Palaeobiology at Cambridge University and has some really interesting ideas.

One of the people who first mapped the genes of the human genome was Francis Collins. It’s great listening to him talking about his faith.

There’s a great website that has interviews with all sorts of scientists who like that ancient poet believe the wonderful world of nature is the world of God’s creation. It’s www.testoffaith.com

I loved the questions you were asking that night!

Keep on asking questions!

Every blessing,

Richard

580 From all that dwell below the skies                  [as in CH4 146]

The wonderful poetry of Genesis 1 is followed immediately by the wonderful story-telling of Genesis 2-4b – 3. It’s a larger than life story set at the beginning of time that speaks those eternal truths to every generation

In the story-telling the wonderful world of God’s creation is thought of as a garden. The Man and the Woman are put in the garden with a task to carry out – they are “to till it and keep it”. They are to look after the garden. The tragedy of the story is the tragedy of every generation, not least ours, that men and women, you and I have failed in the task and instead of looking after the wonderful world of God’s creation we have damaged it in our quest to become like gods in our domination of nature.

In the poetry of Genesis 1 is a challenge to be good stewards of the wonderful world of nature and in the story-telling is the challenge to nurture and care for the wonderful world of God’s creation.

That’s something we are specifically challenged to do something about and to pray about this week

This year Christian Aid is joining with The Climate Coalition for the Speak Up week of action across the UK from 8-16 October. Communities across the UK will come together to Speak Up for the love of the people, places and cherished things affected by climate change.

These exciting local events will give you the opportunity to meet other people who are passionate about tackling climate change in your area and to ask your local MP what progress has been made since the Paris climate change summit.

Together, we can reach our vision of 100% clean energy in a generation, so that everyone can live life to the full.

Friends from Cheltenham churches will be meeting Alex Chalk on Saturday at 2-00 at St Mary’s Charlton Kings – Louise Middleton will be going form Highbury. Have a word with her if you would like to join her – and if you have a question regarding climate change to put to our MP then write it here or email Louise your question.

There’s poetry and prayer in the Book of Psalms. That thought of humanity being given responsibility in the wonderful world of God’s creation to care for that world and look after it is in Psalm 8. That’s a Psalm that celebrates the majesty of God and the wonder of creation. It comes to an end marking the awesome responsibility that is placed in our hands – humanity has power over nature such as nothing else in nature has ever achieved. The challenge is for us to exercise that power with responsibility as we look after creation and care for the world.

We are going to move into a time of prayer … we are going to use that Psalm, sharing in a wonderful response. Then after the Psalm we will read together a prayer for this Speak Up week on Climate change. Then a time of silent prayer as we reflect on our responsibility to care for God’s world … and then our prayers of concern as we remember particularly Janet Brown who has been admitted to hospital and David Roberts whose back is not yet improving.  Gwyneth's daughter Helen has asked for prayer for close friends Sarah & Stephen's much longer for baby born prematurely and desperately ill.

Let’s gather our thoughts in prayer ….

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

You have set your glory above the heavens.
   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger. 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them? 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
   and crowned them with glory and honour.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

A prayer for the Speak Up week of action

Father,
Thank you for creating a beautiful earth full of life.
Thank you for creating us in your image,
and placing a calling on our lives to keep and till your earth.

Forgive us when we lose sight of that mandate,
when our greed causes us to exploit the earth,
threatening the livelihoods of people around the world.

As we gather together in our communities this week,
help us to return to your call, to love and care for the earth.

Give us prophetic imagination for how we can follow your mandate where we live.
Give us courage to speak to those in power to take action to protect the earth.
Give us boldness to Speak Up for those affected by climate change around the world.
Amen.

A time of quiet prayer and reflection

Prayers of Concern

Hymn Touch the earth lightly                                  CH4 243

One of the key things in reading the Bible is to recognize what type of writing a particular passage is. The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it’s full of a rich variety of different styles of writing, different types of writing.

Think of creation and we instantly think of Genesi. That’s a great pity. Because creation figures large in all sorts of other places in the Bible as well. The Psalms celebrate the wonder of God’s creation and the call to care for the world of God’s creation. Psalm 8 we have already shared. Psalm 104 is one of my favourites.

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
   In wisdom you have made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures.  Psalm 104:24

The books either side of the book of Psalms are wisdom literature. It has been said that the wisdom books of the Bible are all about having ‘the ability to cope’.

When everything goes wrong and Job’s world falls apart he finds it very hard, if not imposible to cope … until first the enigmatic Elihu and then the majestic voice of God confront him with the wonder of the world of nature and remind him that it is the world of God’s creation.

It’s as if in your mind’s eye you go to your favourite place in the wilds of nature and in your minid’s ear you hear the voice of God

 ‘Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
⁵ Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
   Or who stretched the line upon it?
⁶ On what were its bases sunk,
   or who laid its cornerstone
⁷ when the morning stars sang together
   and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? 

What a wonderful image of creation – as God the builder.

⁸ ‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
   when it burst out from the womb?—
⁹ when I made the clouds its garment,
   and thick darkness its swaddling band,

Another wonderful image of creation given birth as the waters break from the womb of mother God.

Beyond the Psalms come the prophets who speak into terrible times words of tremendous hope – a creation restored

 ²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰ Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹ but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.

Something wonderful happens when you think about nature. There’s another type of writing in the New Testament – it’s gospel. Good News! Good news in a world of darkness and despair. Jesus knew that – there’s poetry in the wisdom that he shares in the Sermon on the Mount.

Look at the beauty of the birds of the air, the flowers of the field … the flowers at the front of the church.

25 ‘Therefore I tell you,

do not worry about your life,

what you will eat or what you will drink, 

or about your body, what you will wear.

Is not life more than food,

and the body more than clothing?

 ²⁶Look at the birds of the air;

they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,

and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

 ²⁷And can any of you by worrying

add a single hour to your span of life?

 ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;

they neither toil nor spin,

 ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory

was not clothed like one of these.

 ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

There’s wisdom in the words of Jesus just as in the OT there is wisdom in the words of God.

The book of Proverbs chapter 8 speaks of creation as the work of the wisdom of God.

Wisdom speaks in Proverbs 8

²² The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
   the first of his acts of long ago.
²³ Ages ago I was set up,
   at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

If it’s God’s wisdom that’s there in creation itself from the beginning then it is the wisdom of God that needs to shape the way we live our lives in the world of God’s creation.

The voice of wisdom goes on …

³² ‘And now, my children, listen to me:
   happy are those who keep my ways.
³³ Hear instruction and be wise,
   and do not neglect it.
³⁴ Happy is the one who listens to me,

Wisdom is expressed in the word.

That’s the wonderful insight of the Gospel of John –

Alison is going to read John 1:1-5

Reading: John 1:1-5

This really is good news – the darkness cannot put out the light of life. Wonderful good news.

There’s more than that in Jesus there is a new creation – and a new way for us to follow.

Paul is full of new creation language – the book of Revelation looks to a new heaven and anew earth where mourning and crying will be no more.

It’s in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 that the challenge comes to us again …

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us;

What a wonderful challenge.

Hymn: I have a dream                                              CH4 710

Reporting back from and for children and young people

So much to give thanks to God for, so much for us to do in looking after God’s world –

Prayer for climate change

Hymn Think of a world                                            CH4 155

Words of Blessing