Genesis 1:1-4a Psalm 8 2 Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20
Gathering Prayer
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden: cleanse the thoughts of our heats by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name: through Christ our Lord. Amen
Confession
God of mercy, your love for us is strong, but our love for you is weak.
You call us to follow Jesus, but we are slow to obey.
You care for all that you have made, but we ignore the needs of others and misuse your creation.
We are sorry for our sins.
Forgive us, and help us to please you by the way we live; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Hear the word of grace: God is love and forgives our sins through Jesus. Amen
I learned this week that for our colleagues in the United Methodist Church, USA, this would be the traditional part of the year for ministers to be changing appointment. Whether or not this will happen for them this year, I don’t know. But given the pandemic plus riots in the USA at present, our sisters and brothers in Christ need our prayers.
Final Greetings and Benediction 2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.
Just imagine hearing these words of St Paul, as your minister moves on to a new appointment! Or what might it have felt like to be the church at Corinth? For Paul, this had not been the easiest of appointments, and he wrote ‘a letter of tears’ to them.
(Some Scripture trivia: The letter of tears is actually the second letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, but it is now lost – this means that 2 Corinthians is really the third letter: see 1 Corinthians 16:5-7 and then 2 Corinthians 2:4).
Why was it a letter of tears? Well not everyone in the Church at Corinth got on well, and it had caused St Paul a good deal of heartbreak. So perhaps it is not too surprising that Paul framed this letter within the theological concept of God’s reconciling work in Christ. Whatever else you may think about St Paul, here is someone with a passion for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, while friends and colleagues were busy tearing each other apart metaphorically. And yet could still speak a word of grace to them.
And right at the end, no brief ‘best wishes’ or ‘kind regards’ but a much longer reminder to live in peace, and this now familiar prayer. John V. Taylor has this to say about it:
The prayer we call ‘The Grace’, taken from 2 Corinthians 13:14, is so familiar that we fail to notice what it really says. It points to the three absolute basic qualities in the nature of the triune God.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ – grace, or givenness is the most characteristic quality of Jesus. And the essence of God in his unity is love – the love of God. But then it does not say, ‘the power of the Holy Spirit’, or ‘the light of the Holy Spirit’, or ‘the purity of the Holy Spirit’; it says the communion, the in-between-ness of the Holy Spirit. It is often translated fellowship, but fellowship is the result of what we can feel and see. What causes the fellowship is the gift of awareness which opens our eyes to one another, makes us see as we never saw before, the secret of all evolution, the spark that sets off most revolution, the dangerous life-giver, the Holy Spirit.1
Unholy squabbles
There are several challenging thoughts tucked into this short and familiar prayer. Firstly, we all know Corinthian-style churches where no one can agree on anything. Not a pretty sight. Sometimes, we may find ourselves part of such a church, and sometimes we retreat to the side lines, thinking ‘it is not my problem’. Several years ago, I had the great privilege to go to Yad Vashem as part of a British clergy study programme. One lecture outlined the differences between victims, perpetrators and by-standers. The point was made that those who witness and do nothing are still involved. That other great letter to the church at Philippi actually encourages members of the church to become part of the work of reconciliation (Philippians 4:1-3).
Closeness or closed-ness?
A report on churches that are not flourishing and growing, focussed on the word ‘fellowship’. Some churches cite the closeness of the fellowship as part of their mission-planning. One such church served coffee every Sunday morning, which was lovely. Except everyone would sit within their own friendship groups and new comers and the minister found it exceptionally difficult to break into these closed groups. Perhaps it is time to allow the life-changing Spirit to give the awareness that opens our eyes to one another.
Changing the world or changing the church?
The other thing that often comes up at meetings to discuss the mission of the church is how we take seriously Christ’s commissioning to go out and change the world. Listen carefully to those discussions and you will get the sense that this means our church is hoping that people will come in and save us; for we are looking for people who will be good church members and good volunteers, and make financial contributions too – all of which is great. Except that Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to go and build great churches. He told us to go and make disciples.
Order out of Chaos
If the church seems so seriously ‘broken’ then arguably it may not be worth fixing, except that the Spirit still comes to the aid of God’s people. From the very beginning of time, God’s Holy Spirit has been the power brooding over the waters of chaos (Genesis 1:2). Divine love swept over that chaos to bring forth light and life and goodness.
This very beautiful poetic description of the formless void being shaped into the rhythms of nature forms a promise of God’s presence. But God enters into a partnership with the natural world, inviting each to bring forth new life after its own kind; and inviting human beings to act as co-regents in cultivating and nurturing the divine order of things.
And that same spirit in-breathes human beings bringing them to life; filling all of creation with wind/ breath/Spirit of God. Later, it would be that same breath of God that swept over a nation in exile that was as lifeless as a valley of dry bones (Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 37:9-10). Each of these provide much thought-provoking imagery for us during these days: order out of chaos, partnership in new ways of being, renewal and growth.
Mission Impossible?
And a promise: God is the one who invites, sends and empowers.
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18f
The church is a living being, and in common with all living beings, it needs to breathe – or perhaps inbreathe the Holy Spirit and grow in God’s grace and reproduce. Going and making disciples’ It isn’t a task for a professional group, such as those who are ordained, it is part of the calling which we all receive in our baptism. Dare we pray for that spark of new life, the gift of the Holy Spirit?
Words of the Creed, written as a hymn by Timothy Dudley-Smith
We believe in God the Father, God Almighty, by whose plan earth and heaven sprang into being, all created things began. We believe in Christ the Saviour, Son of God in human frame, virgin-born, the Child of Mary, upon whom the Spirit came. Christ, who on the cross forsaken, like a lamb to slaughter led, suffered under Pontius Pilate, he descended to the dead. We believe in Jesus risen, heaven’s King to rule and reign, to the Father’s side ascended till as Judge He comes again. We believe in God the Spirit: in one Church, below, above; saints of God in one communion, one in holiness and love. So by faith, our sins forgiven, Christ our Saviour, Lord and Friend, we shall rise with Him in glory to the life that knows no end.
Timeless God, Creator of the Universe, you alone sustain the space our world inhabits; you alone are worthy of the gladness and praise of our lives.
You exist in ways we cannot imagine and dwell in a splendour we feebly name as your glory. The light of your presence accompanies us and the goodness of your ways surrounds us.
You approach us in humility and weakness, willing to be misunderstood or ignored for the sake of love.
We adore the mystery that combines the unspoken and uttered, the eternal with the momentary, the universal with the particular, for through such paradox we experience your holiness.
Jesus, for us the Christ, our brother, our companion, you are the unmasking of God, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone.
You laid aside your glory and became a servant, ready and willing to respond to God’s call for a new world. You shared our life and in the end succumbed to the powerful in the name of love.
To you belongs all the gladness our hearts can muster.
Mysterious Spirit, always brooding, always moving; you continue to lead us in the dance disclosed to us in Jesus; your living presence is our strength and peacefulness. You are the search for life that makes us restless; you are the truth of life that allows us to be still.
To you belong all the welcome and delight of our hearts, for you are the pleasure of Christ among us.
We open ourselves in gladness and commitment to the way of the cross and the life of your Kingdom. Amen.2
Gathering Prayer and Confession – The Methodist Worship Book, (Peterborough: Methodist Publishing House, 1999), 185 & 198
1 John V Taylor, The Go-between God: the Holy Spirit and the Christian Mission. (London: SCM, 1972), 17
2 Seasons and Celebrations: Prayers for Christian Worship, complied by Donald Hilton. (Birmingham: NCEC, 1996), no 255
Worship at home 