rhianprime

Sep 27, 20208 min read

Sunday worship - 27th September 2020

Croeso! Bore da!

Welcome to you all this Sunday morning.

Please do make yourself known to me if you are new here, or if I can help in any way.

+Yn enw'r Tad, a'r Mab, a'r Ysbryd Glan. Amen

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

Our opening hymn today is: O worship the King,

Heavenly Father, all hearts are open to you.

No secrets are hidden from you.

Purify us with the love of your Holy Spirit

That we may love and worship you faithfully,

through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen

Lord, have mercy Lord, have Mercy Arglwydd, trugarha. Arglwydd, trugarha.

Christ, have mercy Christ, have mercy Crist, trugarha. Crist, trugarha

Lord have mercy Lord, have mercy. Arglwydd, trugarha. Arglwydd, trugarha.

Heavenly Father,

we have sinned in thought, word and deed,

and have failed to do

what we ought to have done.

We are sorry and truly repent.

For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ

who died for us, forgive us all that is past,

and lead us in his way

to walk as children of light. AMEN

May God our Father,

who by the Lord Jesus Christ

has reconciled the world to himself

and forgives the sins of all who truly repent,

pardon and deliver us from all our sins,

and grant us the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN

The Gloria.

Glory to God in the highest

and peace to his people on earth.

Lord God, heavenly King,

Almighty God and Father,

we worship you, we give you thanks,

we praise you for your glory.

Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father,

Lord God, Lamb of God,

you take away the sin of the world:

have mercy on us;

you are seated at the right hand of the Father:

receive our prayer,

For you alone are the Holy One,

you alone are the Lord,

you alone are the Most High,

Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit,

in the glory of God the Father. AMEN

Collect: Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear the prayers of your people who call upon you; and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN

Reading

Psalm 78:1-7 NRSV

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, 3 things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children, 7 so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;

St Matthew 21:23-32 NRSV

The Gospel of Christ according to St Matthew

Glory to you. O Lord.

"23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father[a] went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

This is the Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, O Christ.

Homily

We all have personal hates and one of mine is, when I’m asking a question, to receive a question as the response back. I know I can say to David perhaps, “where is the telephone, it’s not on the base?” The answer I am looking for is, in the lounge or kitchen, not what I get, “why do you want the phone?” Or “who are you going to ring?” Oh it does rile me! Anyone similar here? So, in our gospel I would have, no doubt, felt riled by Jesus who simply asks another question in place of answering. It’s like asking a local for directions when travelling in a strange place - and the Satnav is useless - and they say “Aw, why are going there, did you know, somewhere else is much better?”, and so on?

In our Gospel today we have a short piece which is just after the withered fig tree, and Jesus has entered the temple to teach. Rabbis were allowed and able to teach within the Temple. Jesus drew a crowd around him, who were made up of the chief priests and elders and they challenged him, with not one but two questions.

“By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?”

Fairly recently, I had a phone call concerning a cemetery here in the parish. The gentleman asking the questions was quite forceful and abrasive with his questioning and he challenged me, then the Church of Wales and finally, anyone basically who told him anything he didn’t want to hear. We might like to catch people out, challenge them perhaps, if we think we can prove a point. You only have to observe politicians who are skilled at this and also answer a question with another question, whichever political party they represent.

So back to Jesus in the Temple who is being challenged about his authority to preach in the Temple, and he asks in response just one question, to these chief priests and elders

“ Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” Jesus knew that his mission and that of Cousin John’s was connected and that the Jewish leaders in their blindness have not realised John’s work was because God had sent him. By not recognising this, they had lost a chance to judge John’s successor, Jesus. How do we feel when we challenge someone, then realise we haven’t understood the initial point properly - I’d probably feel like a right wally!

How do we feel when we are challenged particularly on matters of faith? Do we speak with authority or do we simply just challenge someone else with a question? Often people, slide away not wanting conflict and not being certain of the facts of the situation as was the case with the chief priest and elders. We don’t like the invasion of our privacy when the members of the Jehovah’s Witness sect visit our doors, partly because they put us on the spot and can make us feel even inadequate in our faith.

It has been interesting hearing differing points of view put forward by members of the public in locked-down areas of the country. It is very sad when it involves businesses which have taken up so much work, but the understanding of how this virus is passed to individuals, and the utter catastrophic results of that within families, is often totally missed.

So we too are challenged by God in our faith. The parable of the two sons shows this. The leaders of the Jewish faith continue to do things as they have, and haven’t heard or understood things. Equally, those who hadn’t responded now have heard and understood and followed. Do we always understand and make the correct decision or do we just keep doing things as we have always done it, whether right or not? Is it more important to move and adapt with the times in the parish or to follow as our predecessors did? In a church I was at once, the congregation were hell bent on celebrating Harvest in old fashioned way that had worked for eons. Yet one year, because of illness and death, they were forced to tackle things differently. In the end they enjoyed it so much and the change had helped them attract others to come to the church too. So it is with us. Are we sure of what we believe, can we see where we are at and can we, with confidence and God, move into the future?

Intercessions and Lord's Prayer

Everlasting God, you do everything possible for our growth and well-being, but yet we so often choose the path of hostility and rejection.

Let us pray trustfully to the God who has loved us into being and cherished us all our lives.