prepared by Graham Phillips – 16th March 2025

Wherever you are, welcome.

Call to Worship :- Among our worries or despair             Among those who are anxious or frail

you are there .                                                                                   you are there.

in the times when we care                       and in the times when we fail

you are there.                                               you are there.

in our calling

open our minds and our hearts to your ways,

so that we may know to help those in distress.

Enable your church to be a voice that can be heard,

a people who bring hope to those who feel helpless,

and to have the courage to face challenges together,

by the power of your spirit   Amen

A Prayer of Adoration                                            A Prayer of Confession

Faithful Father, whose love                                  When our hearts are willing

                   flows                                                                        but our minds confused by the world in which we

as a river over parched land                                 move, forgive us

refreshing and reviving.                                        

Precious Son, word of life                                     When our souls are thirsty

to those who thirst for truth                                 and drink the water

in a world awash with lies.                                    that so easily runs dry, forgive us.

Gracious Spirit, gentle breeze                             May we seek your face

strengthen and comfort                                         in a world that passes you by;

            for hearts that are dry.                                            may we hear your voice in a world focused on ‘I’;

                                                                                           may we know your mercy     

Triune God, blessed one,                                      and share it on our journey

the unity to which we hold,                                  this and every day. Amen

living water, bread of life,                                     

to you we bring our praise   Amen    

Reading from Luke 13 31-35 (NRSV updated version)

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”  He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.

Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day i must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you are not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ “

Reflection

I don’t know about you but I can’t remember the last time I pulled back the sheets and jumped into bed (may be a slight exaggeration with the Jumped) truly amazed and thankful at what the day had given me, something that had surprised me, something I wasn’t expecting, a vision of Gods amazing world encapsulated in a field of golden wheat shimmering as the wind blew across a field, baby rabbits hopping around their burrow, seeing the world for the first time.

When was the last time you were truly surprised by something that had taken the wind out of your sails, so much so that you felt you were in the presence of God, if so how would you describe that experience. Some may say that they saw the face of Jesus in another person, others that somehow in a particular moment they felt so close to Christ they could almost embrace him, others might say in the beauty of nature, or an answered prayer, or holding their child for the first time. These experiences, times and situations which we haven’t experienced before, open our lives to the call of Jesus for each of us in our own lives, and open us to what the gospel is all about. In John 10 v10 we hear that Jesus said “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”. It’s why in Luke 9 v 51 we are told Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem”. Jesus is opening our eyes and ears to the future to the promise of the coming of an abundant life. It’s why we are repeatedly told to not fall asleep, but remain watchful, to be awake to our future, the life that awaits us. And in our reading today that’s exactly what Jerusalem failed to do.

 Jerusalem has killed the ones who were calling it into the future, the prophets. It stoned those sent to bring it that abundant life. To my mind Jerusalem is almost a metaphor for our own blindness and deafness. We shut out the future, just as Jerusalem did, the doors and windows are locked and boarded up “See, your house is left to you,” Jesus says in Luke 13 v 35. Jerusalem refuses to respond to the promise of this new and abundant life.

There are times when I get the feeling we are not unlike Jerusalem. We somehow run our lives on some sort of autopilot, shutting our eyes and ears to the future, we just go through the motions. For me it happens when I hold resentments and grudges and refuse to accept the forgiveness offered by another, something I’m not proud of. It’s in my cynicism, my suspicions and rejection of others.

If we are not careful we stay as we are, not willing to change, that fear of change almost overwhelms us. We become so tied up in our lives as they are, we won’t listen to anybody else, we come to believe our way is the only way, blocking out any other point of view. We hold on for dear life to past losses, guilt’s and hurts, it brings us to the point when we stop being self-reflective, we refuse to question ourselves, our motives, refusing to even consider something new.

It’s what happens when we say to ourselves “this is as good as it gets” our old routines and habits govern our lives. We seem unable to, or refuse to dream or imagine, to say to ourselves “Perhaps, what if, maybe”. When this happen we stay stuck as we are, we stagnate we no longer grow. Our dreams replaced by nightmares, our hopes replaced by despair. Our eyes and ears are closed to what the future holds for us. We settle for second best, we live in our boarded up house, like the chicks gathered under the mother hen’s wings.

Jesus here is lamenting Jerusalem. Luke tells us in 19 v 41 “He wept over it”, weeping over its short-sightedness, its narrowness of vision, but undeterred he continues coming, coming to us, calling us to new life, and even when we don’t respond that promise never goes away,

summed up in the final words of today’s reading “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord”

These words describe someone whose ears, eyes and heart are open to what is coming. It makes me wonder in what ways our own ears, eyes and hearts are closed to today? What do we need to change within ourselves, to enable us, you and me, to embrace that new fuller, amazing life Jesus promises us, how do we do it? That is a question all of us have to answer in our own way. Not easy, a challenge for us, both as individuals and churches. If we do the rewards will be beyond our wildest imaginings, fulfilling dreams we never thought possible.

Is it time to open our doors, take the boards from our windows and face the new future.

Shall we do it?

Hymn StF 553  I am a new creation

                I am a new creation,                                And I will praise you, Lord,

                no more in condemnation,                     yes, I will praise you Lord,

                here in the grace of God I stand.            and I will sing of all that you have done.

                My heart is over-flowing,                         A joy that knows no limit,

                my love just keeps on growing,               a lightness in my spirit-

                here in the grace of God I stand              here in the grace of God I stand

                                                                                                         David Bilborough b 1965

We come to our prayers on intercession

As I have said before, for me these prayers are deeply personal, That being so I would ask you sit quietly for a few minutes and pray your own prayers……………… Amen

We bring all our prayers together as we say the Lord’s prayer

Our father who art in heaven …………………………  Amen

Hymn StF 335 Rejoice the Lord is King!

      1/  Rejoice the Lord is King!                                    2/  Jesus the Saviour reigns,

             Your Lord and King adore;                                      the God of truth and love;

             mortals, give thanks, and sing,                            when he has purged our stains

             and triumph evermore                                             he took his seat above:

             Lift up your heart, lift up your voice:;                 Lift up your heart, lift up your voice;

            rejoice! Again I say: rejoice!                                    rejoice! Again: I say: rejoice

        3/  His kingdom cannot fail,                                    4/  He site at God’s right hand

              he rules both earth and heaven;                            till all his foes submit,

              the keys of death and hell                                        and bow to his command,

              are to our Jesus given:                                              and fall beneath his feet:

              Lift up your………….                                                    Lift up your…………….

                                                   5/  Rejoice in glorious hope;

                                                          Jesus the Judge shall come,

                                                           and take his servants up

                                                           to their eternal home.

                                                           We soon shall hear the archangel’s voice;

                                                           God’s trumpet call shall sound: rejoice!

                                                                                                       Charles Wesley ( 1707-1788 )

Final prayer and blessing

As the sun rises higher in the sky,                     As the spring flowers display their beauty 

so may the Lord be exalted in our lives      so may the Lord be glorified in our lives

As the fresh green leaves on the trees announce the spring

so may the Lord be known in our lives.

Creator God whose faithfulness is seen in the coming and going of the seasons. whose love is seen in the renewing of the earth, guard us and guide us, keep us and bless us now and for evermore  AMEN