Canvey Island Methodist Church Order of Service – 6th September 2020
Welcome
https://youtu.be/zgqjja0sOKg
Call to worship: Psalm 119:37-40
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.[a] 38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.
39 Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good.
40 How I long for your precepts In your righteousness preserve my life.
Hymn 608 All praise to our redeeming Lord.
Prayer: Prayer of Approach
https://youtu.be/2xJD8iKykQU
Gracious God, you are our host and guest.
We gather today, in your house,
knowing that you are with us.
As you have welcomed us,
help us to be a welcoming community.
Send your Spirit to blow through our worship
as a breeze blows through the open windows
of a long-closed house.
Amen
Prayer of Praise
God of creation, Source of all being
the heavens declare your glory
and the earth is your handiwork.
For the diverse beauty of all you have made;
we offer you our praise.
God of salvation, Eternal Word,
you came amongst your people,
and made yourself vulnerable
to the risky business of human living.
we offer you our praise.
God of life, Holy Spirit,
you move in the church and in the world,
calling the least and the lost
into a deeper fellowship of love.
we offer you our praise.
God of all grace,
Accept our praise, and help us to live as your people in the world.
Amen.
Confession
Let us confess our sins,
trusting in God’s mercy and forgiveness.
(Silence is kept).
For those times when we have lost sight of your love,
despairing for ourselves and the world
Heal us, God, and grant us a new beginning.
For those times when we have lost perspective,
putting our own concerns before the needs of your world.
Heal us, God, and grant us a new beginning.
For those times when we have taken for granted
the gifts that you have given to us.
Heal us, God, and grant us a new beginning.
For those times when we have chosen to ignore injustice,
and neglected those in need.
Heal us, God, and grant us a new beginning.
Declaration of forgiveness
God has heard our confession,
loves us still and, through Christ,
offers healing and a new beginning.
Hear then, Christ’s gracious words:
“Your sins are forgiven.”
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Ezekiel 33; 7-11…...7 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. 9 But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.
10 “Son of man, say to the Israelites, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of[b] them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Romans 13; 8-14
Love Fulfills the Law
8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”[a] and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
The Day Is Near
11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.[c]
Matthew 18; 15-20
Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 “If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[c] 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Sermon for Canvey: 6.9.20
Ezek33;7-11 Rom13;8-14 Matt18;15-20
1.Ezekiel was called to be a watchman. Earlier verses told how the watchman had a very responsible job. He was the man to guard the walls and watch out for the sword of the enemy. If he saw him coming he must blow the trumpet to wake up the people to defend their lives against the sword. But the enemy Ezekiel was to warn against was a different enemy, the enemy within. The selfish way of life they were living was heading for a destruction worse than any enemy could inflict, the judgement of their own disobeyed and neglected God. And they could not see it! If any of them, including the prophet himself, was to survive, the trumpet must sound now and Ezekiel must blow it! His own life depended upon it.
Have you heard the trumpet call? Since the virus the air has been thick with its blasts; more than we have felt able to cope with. But I am reminded of my 10 years in Hastings when I served as a volunteer with the Samaritans. We took calls from all over the world from people often on the verge of taking their own lives. I found it strange at first how often callers would deny their feelings of despair and present an air of cheerfulness, sometimes abuse or anger. But we were trained always to ask the suicide question to give him or her an opening to OWN their real feelings and talk them through, to give themselves a chance to reach a better place and avoid that act they could not undo. Once a year we would take to the streets with a collecting box and at times a donor would confess “I would not be alive today but for the listening ear of a Samaritan”. There are many ways to fill the watchman’s role. Sometimes they can be life-saving.
2. Paul too is a watchman. He doesn’t want us to get confused with too many trumpet sounds. In the first part of our chapter he calls for obedience to the laws of the governing authorities. In our section he comes to the laws of God. He doesn’t need to draw attention to the ways in which rules sometimes conflict with one another. They can be all too obvious and we remember how the apostle Peter had to bravely stand his ground saying “We must obey God rather than men”. What Paul says here is, `in all the confusion, remember one thing; every law or commandment, wherever it may come from, must be summed up in the command “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”. That one obligation covers everything. I think that is still the right guide for us. It’s the guide by which we may judge government policies today and our treatment of those inconvenient people who don’t seem to matter as they desperately seek to cross our channel in tiny boats. It’s the same guide for us as we judge our own attitudes to those on the margins, sometimes without thinking. So are there times when WE need to sound the trumpet? Wake up! Paul says, The day is almost here, the day of salvation is now.
3. So we come to our Gospel passage. Listen again to verses 15-17:
If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others so that `every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses` If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
I have to say this is one of the most problematical passages in all the gospels. As William Barclay said, “These verses sound more like regulations from an ecclesiastical committee about a matter of discipline, than the voice of Jesus”. Scholars think that the early church Matthew was writing for must have needed that word. In the previous verses we hear Jesus telling the story of the shepherd who leaves his 99 sheep on the hillside to go in search of the one that has gone astray. Matthew must have felt that those he was writing for needed a more explicit word. He tried, but it doesn’t sound like the Jesus we know. We must not let that rob these words of their value. They say that if you see a brother or sister going astray, don’t abandon her. Go and have a quiet word, sound a quiet trumpet in his ear. If you don’t get anywhere, share your concern in the confidence of a small group. The church has always known the value of the small group. That’s why John Wesley introduced the class meeting so that members could watch over one another in love and give help where needed. Our pastoral visitors continue that tradition. Look how we have all been helped by Colin’s watch over us during these last months. Our prayer and Bible Study meeting has for years benefitted far more than the small group who usually attend to share and support one another.
If you ask why, remember what drove Ezekiel; “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” Ezekiel knew He meant it and Jesus came to press it home by his whole life, deliberately searching out the lowest and the meanest, the weakest and the wickedest and when he died on the Cross, He did it for every man, woman and child to the last and the least. God does not abandon any of us to go to the wall. And “where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them”, said Jesus.
Hymn 254 Seek ye first
Prayers of intercession: Sue
Hymn 503 Love divine all loves excelling
Closing prayer and Blessing