Circuit Service – 26th November 2023
Call to worship: Come and worship the Lord Jesus, Kings of Kings, yet servant of all. Come with your dreams, your longings, your hopes, and all those people on your heart; and seek blessing and healing. Amen
Hymn1: 331 – King of Kings
Prayers:
On this, the last day of the Christian year, we thank you Lord for the year that has gone and ask that you walk beside us into the year to come.
We thank you for the beauty of your created world which we have noticed this year like never before. We thank you for our neighbours and friends and families.
We thank you for the stories we read in your word that show us how we can survive and get through hard times – so many times have your people suffered and yet they and we are still aware of you with us in that suffering.
Most of all Lord we thank you for the love that you have and continue to show to us all through the life and sacrifice of your Son, our Lord – Jesus Christ.
Amen
And a prayer of confession:
Dear God, where we have been blind to the needs of others: forgive us.
Where we have been slow to take responsibility for our actions; forgive us
Where we have not taken judgement seriously; forgive us.
Help us to forgive ourselves as you forgive us and give us your peace. Amen
Let’s share together now in the prayer that Jesus taught us as we say:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…….
Readings: Ephesians 1, 15 – 23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Matthew 25, 31 – 46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Hymn: 256: When I needed a neighbour were you there?
Sermon:
Today is the Sunday that we celebrate Christ as King. But what does that mean for us today?
Kings and Queens nowadays are really no more than powerless figureheads however loved they may be, but in Jesus’ time and in the history of both the Jewish people and our own history they were all powerful and could do what they liked, good or bad.
So the stories and understanding of a King in the history of the Jewish people was strong and the character of a King, both then, and in our own history, was integral to the ethos of the Kingdom. His word was Law and the everyday life of his subjects was affected by royal priorities.
But Jesus too was a King. We know that because his coming as King was prophesied by Isaiah, Daniel, Moses, Ezekiel, Hosea, Micah and many other prophets; the Magi searched for him after seeing the rising of a new star; Herod was terrified of him; and the crowds cheered for him on Palm Sunday as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Our reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds us of Jesus’ Kingship and authority. In one modern version of the Bible these verses are headed ‘Knowing the power of the King’.
Jesus, however, wasn’t the kind of king they expected despite all the prophesies…. He was a king on the edge.
Just as Kings of old affected the countries and the people they ruled, so Jesus shows us the Kingdom that he rules over. When we live in God’s Kingdom Christ is the King who shows us what his Kingdom is like. He spends time with the marginalised, the oppressed, and the forgotten; is committed to those who nobody values or respects and identifies with the least of these. When we look at them, we look at him, when we help them, we help him. These are the people who need us, who make us feel uncomfortable, who are demanding and are even unpleasant. As the song says:’ these are the ones we should serve, these are the ones we should love, all these are neighbours to us and you…’
Our gospel reading today is a hard one about judgement and justice…
Justice is a profound human longing. Matthew, in our reading today invites us to witness the way in which Jesus’ justice will be exercised. Goats and sheep are very similar – particularly the breeds that they had at the time, so to separate them was not always easy. They often grazed together, but needed to be separated at the end of the day so the goats, being less hardy could be kept warm at night. But this is not, of course, about sheep and goats…it’s about us and how we treat other people.
Loving service is the most effective form of witness to God’s love for all. We are judged by our own actions; those decisions we’ve made throughout our lives, but we’re not alone.
The sheep in this story seemed to be surprised when Jesus says they’ve fed the hungry, clothed the naked and welcomed the stranger. It wasn’t something they’d planned to do to fulfil a duty. It wasn’t because they ‘ought’ to love, – they’d just done it because they saw the need and had love in their hearts. Likewise, the goats had no idea that they’d done anything wrong – they’d just been going about their lives minding their own business; not intentionally ignoring anyone but…well that’s just the way it is……
In God’s Kingdom however, policy bows to love, domination descends to service and sacrifice, control morphs into influence and inspiration and vengeance and threats are transformed into forgiveness and blessing.
As we look forward to Advent and Christmas, we celebrate the King who came among us. He came to be alongside us in all that we do and are. If we too come alongside people we will see their needs.
Matthew makes it quite clear that, ultimately, only love matters, and all love comes from God. We are all told not to judge people these days, so the idea of God as judge is a difficult one. But our reading today shows that we are judged not by others, or even by God, but by our own actions or lack of them. When we calculate our actions or do things for thanks, then we already have our reward here and now. When we act in love, with no pretence or score keeping we are often surprised when it is noticed.
Jesus knows us by the way we deal with other people – particularly the vulnerable, the needy and the difficult. Ours is not to judge, but to love. Amen
Hymn: 628: Faithful One
Prayers:
Lord Jesus, we are all both sheep and goats, loving and selfish, caring and complacent. Take the best of each one of us and shape it into that which can serve you and our community with more passion, more commitment, more humility, and more love, knowing our frailties, but rejoicing in your strength.
Lord Jesus, our King, we pray for those who are in positions of authority with responsibility for decision making at national, international and local level. We ask that you would give great wisdom, deep commitment and right judgement to them all. Help them to understand the needs of all their people and be compassionate and just in their decisions.
God of justice, in this time of great challenge we pray for the economic wellbeing of our country and other countries around the world. We remember before you God those who face job insecurity, those who have lost their jobs and all who face an uncertain and difficult future. We pray for a renewed commitment to our common life together.
Healing and compassionate God, we bring before you all those who suffer in body, mind, spirit or with grief. We ask that in your great loving kindness they might know his sustaining presence amidst their pain.
We pray for those who work in the NHS – that God would prosper the work of their hands and give them your healing touch.
In a moment of silence we bring before you Lord, all those on our minds as we stand before you in prayer today………
Loving God, at this time when so many are suffering, we pray for our nation and our world. Give our leaders wisdom, our health service strength and our people hope. Lead us through these parched and difficult days to the fresh springs of joy and comfort that we find in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Hymn: 330: Joy to the world
| 1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing. 2 Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns! |
3 He rules the world with truth and grace, and makes the nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love, and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love.
Isaac Watts (1674–1748) |
Blessing: Circle us O God, keep hope within and despair without.
Circle us O God, keep peace within and turmoil out.
Circle us O God, Keep calm within and storms without.
Circle us O God, keep strength within and weakness out.
As we go into the new week and new Christian year, may we be continually aware of your presence within us Lord – guarding and guiding, leading and loving us in all we do and all we are. Amen
Chris and Ros Hancock
