COVENANT COMMUNITY ONLINE SERVICE
PRESENTER: Revd Dr Calvin T Samuel
PREACHER: Revd Dr Liz Kent
SUNDAY 23 August 2020
Facing Persecution
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4g6Kd0mjx0
- Welcome & Introduction:
Good Morning. My name is Calvin Samuel and I’m Methodist minister for the towns of Rochford and Rayleigh in the County of Essex, and looking forward in only a week’s time, to becoming the minister for Hockley.
Welcome to this covenant community online service. We are internationally dispersed, and socially distant but we come together in worship as a covenant community.
Throughout the month of August I’m working with colleagues in the Southend and Leigh Methodist Circuit, Pastors Steve Mayo and Colin Turner as we’ve combined our YouTube Services.
Last week as we continued our journey Into the Book of Acts Pastor Steve preached brilliantly for us on Acts 15: Don’t Close the Door. This week I’m delighted that the Revd Dr Liz Kent will be our preacher. She’ll be tackling the topic Facing Persecution as we consider the persecutions that Paul and Silas faced in Acts 16 and 17 which is the focus of our service today.
- Hymn: All Hail the power of Jesus’ name
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all!
Ye chosen seed of Israel's race,
Ye ransomed from the fall,
Hail Him Who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all!
Let every tongue and every tribe,
Responsive to his call
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all!
O That with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall
We’ll join the everlasting song
And crown Him Lord of all!
Edward Perronet (1726–1792)
- PRAYERS
As Pastor Steve comes to lead our prayers I invite you to respond using the words in yellow which appear on your screen, or the text in bold type if you’re listening on audio and working from a hard copy.
Prayers of Praise and Adoration
Let us offer our praise to God
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
Creator we adore you, all creation reflects your glory.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
You have made women, men, girls and boys in your image.
You welcome those who are vulnerable with open arms of compassionate acceptance:
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
Redeemer, we adore you, all creation is reconciled in you.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
Where the weak and broken lie bruised and discarded you challenge the complacent, revealing the truth behind our lies
and invite the wounded to your feast of life.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
Sustainer, we adore you, all creation is inspired by you.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
You breathe life into places of deathly fear; you increase our understanding of things hard to comprehend
and draw us into your dance of loving joy.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise
God, three in one, all creation sings of your great deeds.
We lift our voices in gratitude and praise. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
We have not always lived in ways that reflect God’s love for all.
There are times when prejudice and ignorance have caused us to judge others as less important, less capable, less whole than ourselves.
Gracious God release us and grant us mercy.
We have not always lived as people assured of our place in God’s heart. There are times when despair has been our refuge and we have turned from God’s promises.
Gracious God release us and grant us hope.
We have not always lived as disciples of Jesus.
There are times when the paths to wealth and power have been more attractive than the longer roads of justice, peace and tolerance.
Gracious God release us and grant us courage.
We have not always lived as people of the Resurrection.
There are times when we have only seen the world as a place of threat and brokenness, forgetting God’s creative genius.
Gracious God release us and grant us wisdom.
In quietness we remember those thoughts, actions and words that have marred your image in us, hurt others and damaged the world.
Silence
God has heard the confession of our hearts and minds.
In Christ we are set free.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
- SCRIPTURE
After the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 where the Church agreed that Gentiles like us could become Christians without first becoming Jews, the gospel spread even more rapidly among Gentiles. In Acts chapters 16 and 17 we hear how the gospel spread to Philippi and Thessalonica, places where Paul and Silas experienced sever persecution.
If you’ve ever wondered why Paul wrote his letters to the Philippians and Thessalonians, it’s simply this: it was too dangerous to go back. So, Paul and Silas wrote to them instead and those letters were preserved in what became our New Testament. Today in our reading from Acts 16 we hear a little about their persecution soon after they arrived in Philippi.
Acts 16.16–34
One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
- The Sermon – Revd Dr Liz Kent
In the world of publishing there is a genre of book which seems to sell really well. The content varies but the first three words of the title are usually ‘How to succeed...’ ‘How to succeed in business’; ‘How to succeed in life’, ‘How to succeed in love’. For Christians, books or blogs on ‘How to succeed in growing your church’ or ‘how to successfully reach your community’ are really popular and speak to our desire to be seen as ‘successful’. The book of ‘Success in 3 Easy Steps’ is much more appealing than the one titled ‘Here’s how we battled through challenges and hardships and people misunderstanding us until we ended up in prison’!, and yet the writer of Acts is clear to present the advance of the gospel as involving challenge, cost and hardship, as well as occasions where everything appears to be a success.
As we encounter God through this passage we may want to reflect on where we seek easy success and where we are prepared to persevere through challenge and opposition for the sake of the gospel.
Acts 16 finds Paul and his companions in Philipi. They have gone there following Paul’s vision of a man of Macedonia calling them to preach the gospel there. This is really important. It was not their plan to go there, but in listening to the Holy Spirit, they are obedient to God’s direction and they change their plans. The fact that they face challenge and opposition when they get there is not because they are in the wrong place or because they are disobeying God, they face challenge despite the call of God. Sometimes when we respond to God’s call, it will be to a place or situation where we find opposition or difficult people or misunderstanding, but we go precisely because that is the person or place which needs the good news of Jesus, and God has called us to go there.
The start of the mission to Macedonia looks like a success story. Philipi was a Roman Colony, the leading town of the district and a popular trading centre. There would have been shrines within the city walls dedicated to the honour and worship of Roman gods, and probably to the worship of the Emperor too, but Paul and his companions go on the Sabbath outside the walls to a ‘place of prayer’. At the place of prayer, they meet Lydia ‘a worshipper of God’ who responds to Paul’s message and is baptised, along with her household. This initial ‘success’ confirms the vision that here is a place with people ready for the gospel, but the further spread of the transforming power of the risen Christ does not happen without challenge.
The event which triggers the opposition is the freeing of the un-named female slave. She has persistently followed Paul and his companions telling everyone that they are God’s servants offering the way of salvation. What she says is true, but her relentless attention causes Paul to command the spirit which was compelling her to shout this to come out of her. In the name of Jesus, she is set free from the spirit which controlled her but she is also liberated from the human enslavement which trapped her into a life of fortune telling for the financial benefit of others. The power of Jesus Christ has set her free, a success which seems like cause for rejoicing and yet the cost of her liberty is Paul and Silas’ captivity.
It is easy to skip through these few verses about Paul and Silas in prison because we know what happens in the end, but they had just faced the humiliation and pain of being stripped and physically beaten in the public square. This does not look like a typical success story. When Paul lists the various hardships he has suffered in the cause of preaching Christ (2 Cor 11:23-28) it becomes clear that success in the spreading of the gospel comes with the sort of challenges which require us to ‘take up our cross’ in order to follow Christ. Despite these obstacles, the assurance is there that the God who raised Christ from the dead is more powerful, faithful and loving than anything else that we may encounter.
Even in the inner cell of a prison, Paul and Silas prayed and sang to God, trusting that this challenge was not beyond the power of God to save and help them. The dramatic earthquake springs the doors open as God’s power works yet more liberation. Yet Paul knows that under the brutal rules of the Empire, the fate of any Roman soldier who lets his prisoner escape is for the soldier to be executed instead. By remaining in the cells, Paul and Silas save the jailer’s earthly life and cause him to seek eternal life. ‘What must I do to be saved?’ he asks, opening the door for Paul and Silas to share Christ with him. The jailer and his whole household come to believe, and so despite hardship and challenge the spread of the gospel continues.
The discovery that Paul and Silas are Roman citizens who have been unlawfully beaten and imprisoned causes the authorities at Philippi some alarm, so before Paul and Silas appeal to Rome, the magistrates escort them from the prison and the city.
More challenge awaits them in Thessalonica. Following his usual practice to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath, Paul encounters a few Jews and some God-fearing Greeks who are persuaded that Jesus is the promised Messiah. This would be quite a success story if left there, but the other half of the story is that there are those who do not accept that Jesus is the good news that Paul proclaims him to be. A mob is formed, a riot ensues and the Christians are brought before the authorities, before being bailed and released.
An author of a ‘how to succeed’ book will often major on ‘positive thinking’ or ‘visualising’ success. Personal story will be motivational and crafted to include the things which went well and were achieved, whilst the negative incidents and situations where people did not respond positively are carefully edited out. Not so the account in Acts 16-17. Whilst the book of Acts charts the spread of the gospel across the then-known world and the numerical growth of the early church, it retains the accounts of opposition, challenge and hardship. We see both the powerful acts of God, working through Paul and his companions through the Holy Spirit, but we also see the resistance to the good news of Jesus when it disrupts or challenges the power structures of the day or the human heart.
When we are called to difficult places or tasks, may we know the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to remain faithful to God’s call. When we find ourselves in times of unexpected challenge may we be open to opportunities to share Christ with those, like the jailer, who seek him. When others oppose our witness for Christ, may we, like Paul and Silas, look to God to defend and help us.
- Hymn: God, I look to You, I won't be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like You do
God I look to You, You're where my help comes from
Give me wisdom, You know just what to do
And I will love You, Lord, my strength
I will love You, Lord, my shield
I will love You, Lord, my rock
Forever, all my days I will love You, God
God, I look to You, I won't be overwhelmed
Give me vision to see things like You do
God I look to You, You're where my help comes from
Give me wisdom, You know just what to do
I will love You, Lord, my strength
I will love You, Lord, my shield
I will love You, Lord, my rock
Forever all my days I will love You, God
Hallelujah, our God reigns
Hallelujah, our God reigns
Hallelujah, our God reigns
Forever, all my days, Hallelujah
Ian Mcintosh & Jenn Johnson
- Prayers of Intercession – Pastor Steve Mayo
As we offer our prayers for the world and for ourselves, we will share in times of silence, allowing us to reflect on the needs of others and on our own experiences. As we reflect, it may be that God will speak into that silence and help us to understand the world and our lives in new ways.
We remember creation, breathed into life by God’s Holy Spirit:
places of beauty and brilliance,
places of grandeur and spectacle,
places of extravagant diversity.
We pray, creating God, for places damaged and degraded for people scraping a living from land made fruitless by human greed.
Silence
Help us to live sparingly and to care for creation.
Gracious God: Hear our prayer.
We remember humanity, breathed into life by God’s Holy Spirit:
people of beauty and brilliance, people of gifts and grace,
people of extravagant diversity.
We pray, healing God, for people whose lives are diminished because they live with their own or another’s mental illness; for people facing the stigma caused by misunderstanding about mental illness; for people struggling to find help when they need it.
Silence
Help us to be welcoming, helpful and more aware of those things that make for
mental well-being for others and ourselves.
Gracious God: Hear our prayer.
We remember the Church, breathed into life by God’s Holy Spirit:
a community of beauty and brilliance
a community of love and compassion
a community of extravagant diversity.
We pray, inspiring God, for denominations working out how to be one family, offering an effective witness to your love in the world; for churches with projects that offer help to people struggling with mental illness; for ourselves and people in our own families and community who need to be understood, accepted and loved.
Silence
Help us to be willing to change ourselves and inspired to change the world.
Gracious God: Hear our prayer.
In the name of Christ. Amen
We draw all our prayers together in the prayer that Jesus gave us. The words will appear on screen:
Our Father,
who art in Heaven…
Our final hymn acknowledges that life is sometimes too challenging for us. Sometimes it feels like we’re facing giants. Whether your giant is like that of Paul and Silas, one of persecution or injustice, illness or broken relationships, financial trouble, homelessness or grief my prayer for you today is that the story of Paul and Silas singing praise at midnight in the middle of a prison might just reminds us that if God be for us, we can face our giants with confidence.
- Hymn: I'm not a warrior, I'm too afraid to lose
I feel unqualified for what you're calling me to
But Lord with your strength, I've got no excuse
'Cause broken people are exactly who you use
So give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den
Give me hope like Moses in the wilderness
Give me a heart like David, Lord be my defence
So I can face my giants with confidence
You took a shepherd boy and made him a King
So I'm gonna trust you and give you everything
I'll be a conqueror, ‘cause you fight for me
I'll be a champion claiming your victory
Give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den…
I'm gonna sing and shout and shake the walls
I won't stop until I see them fall
Gonna stand up, step out when you call
Jesus, Jesus
Give me faith like Daniel in the lion's den… x2
Matthew Armstrong, Jordan Bailey & Tony Wood
- THE BLESSING
The Spirit of truth lead you into all truth,
give you grace to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
and strengthen you to proclaim the word and works of God;
and the blessing of God,
Spirit, Son and Father,
remain with you always. Amen.
Online Music taken from YouTube and iSingWorship – All rights reserved.
Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1999 Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes.
Common Worship, © Archbishop's Council 2006.