Exodus 3:1-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45b Romans 12:9-21 Matthew 16:21-28
A Prayer of adoration, confession and a collect
With the Psalmist we pray: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. We bless you for the beauty of creation; we bless you for our health and strength, especially in these fearful times; we bless you for satisfying us with good things – not necessarily the things we think we want, but the things that are good for us. We bless you for the sense of spiritual renewal, day by day. Lord God, you have been faithful to us in the past, and your steadfast love continues to bless us. Yet despite all you continue to do for us, we have often chosen to go our own way, causing hurt to you, to others and to ourselves. Forgive us we pray. Gracious God, you call us to fullness of life: release us from unbelief and banish our fears with the liberating love of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Introduction
It is an odd thing, isn’t it: Peter who got it so spot on just a few verses earlier (16:16) now gets it so horribly wrong (16:22). We go from Peter who understood Jesus to be the Messiah, to the Peter who can’t accept the consequences of what Jesus is telling him. And Peter rebuked Jesus!
Last week we thought about how accepting Jesus should lead to transformation, to changed perspectives, and the complete offering of ourselves as living sacrifices. Jesus takes this one step further in these verses (16:24-25):
If anyone wants to come with me,
he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wants to save his own life will lose it;
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Deep theology: of atonement, redemption and incarnation
What we say about Jesus now takes us forward into an understanding of some of the deep beliefs of the Christian faith. It helps us to think about the work that Jesus accomplished for all humanity on the cross (atonement and redemption). And it helps us to remember that Jesus is fully human and divine (incarnation). So, it is a reminder that along with all the parts of the gospel that tell us what Jesus said, there are also beautiful examples of what Jesus did – healings, exorcisms, acts of compassion, moments of exuberant joy where people have really understood what the kingdom is all about. Jesus always embodied good news. And his followers are invited to do the same.
The Christian message is one in which Jesus is revealed in the words he spoke, and by the way he lived his life. More importantly, that way of life ultimately led to death on a cross: Christ died for the whole world, regardless of culture, of race and of background. So, when Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow, he is asking his followers to be ready to make sacrifices in order to live as his disciples. In other words, there is a cost to being a disciple. This ultimately impacts us as individuals and impacts us as a church community: we are called to be radically different.
Years ago, I heard a sermon illustration of a parrot who escaped his cage and discovered life in the wild. When Polly was out eating grains in the farmer’s field with the crows, the farmer raised his shotgun, and amongst the victims was poor Polly. With his dying breath he croaked ‘bad company, bad company!’
As teenagers we were encouraged by this sad tale to keep away from evil influences. But here is my problem – how on earth did the vibrant plumage of the parrot not stand out amongst all the black feathered crows? Now I don’t think it was because the farmer had not gone to Specsavers! So how might we stand out as followers of Jesus in a dark and gloomy world? What’s so different about the people who form the church?
Being in the world, but not of the world ?
The church is a community ‘set apart’ for a distinct mission in relation to the world.
Some of you will be familiar with the Star Wars series of films and the constant battle against the empire. It is an absorbing piece of fiction. Yet at the time when both Matthew’s gospel and the book of Romans were written, this was about God’s kingdom of love versus the (Roman) Empire, and the Empire was seen very much as a dominating system. But what about today?
Eleazar S Fernandez says, … the social atmosphere that Christian communities in the global north have been breathing in and out, [has] rendered their olfactory nerves incapable of smelling the highly toxic social atmosphere. It appears that so many churches have become so comfortable with the world that they have lost their identity as an alternative community. Driven by the desire for relevance and seduced by the much coveted three Bs of success (Building, budget and bodies [i.e. members]), churches have played footsie with the dominant culture without realising soon enough that thy have gone to bed with the culture of domination, privilege, accumulation and consumption.
Feasting on the Word, Year A vol. 4 (Louisville, Kentucky, Westminster John Knox Press, 2011), 16
The church may be set apart from the world, yet it is deeply embedded within the world; it is the context in which we form theology – what we say about God – and ecclesiology – what we say about ourselves as a community of faith.
For we are called to be followers of the Risen Christ. Kristyn and Keith Getty point us in the right direction in this song:
Come, people of the Risen King who delight to bring Him praise.
Come all and tune your hearts to sing to the Morning Star of grace.
From the shifting shadows of the earth we will lift our eyes to Him
where steady arms of mercy reach to gather children in.
Rejoice, rejoice! Let every tongue rejoice!
One heart, one voice; O Church of Christ, rejoice!
Come, those whose joy is morning sun and those weeping through the night.
Come, those who tell of battles won and those struggling in the fight.
For His perfect love will never change and His mercies never cease;
but follow us through all our days with the certain hope of peace.
A community of grace
We are a worshipping community. Now, it is weird not to be able to sing – especially weird for all good Methodists – so here is our challenge: how do we praise God today? (NB. please remember those in the underground churches who dare not sing; all who physically cannot sing/speak; those who psychologically struggle with the concept of praise). Could we, for a short while stand with brothers and sisters who are unable to raise a vocal hymn of praise?
If we self-identify as members of God’s new kingdom, we have committed to values of genuine love, and welcome to all. I have witnessed churches speaking about how much they love everyone, whilst metaphorically stabbing in the back those they don’t like or don’t agree with. And church can be a place of horrendous, disabling gossip. It should not be. Real love is about mutual regard and harmony, it is about solidarity and reaching out to those who struggle to fit in.
The good news of being justified by grace, is marked out by St Paul with some very practical advice. Romans 12 contains 23 imperatives or instructions, but all of them flow from our worship of God. Last week we discovered that worship involved the mind (it is reasonable), but it also involves the body (it is practical). But look carefully. Paul seems to be suggesting that genuine love is
- detesting evil and sticking to the good
- being caring and sympathetic to one another
- if you must have a church competition, let it be in outdoing one another in conscientiousness and persistence
- being on fire for God in the power of the Spirit,
- serve the Lord, work hard at your prayer-life
- give to the needs of God’s people
- practise hospitality to strangers (openness, generosity, friendliness, kindness)
- And we are invited to think carefully about how we behave in all situations
For all it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.
Prayer of thanksgiving
Father of light, in whom is no change or shadow of turning, you give us every good and perfect gift and have brought us to birth by your word of truth: may we be a living sign of that kingdom where your whole creation will be made perfect in Jesus Christ our Lord.[1]
Prayer of Intercession
We bring before God, the people of America during the time when they seek to elect the next president. We remember the difficulties they face: the work needed to get Covid19 under control; bush-fires in California, the devastation of Hurricane Louisa and the people of Kenosa Wisconsin.
We pray for our own nation, for those who have lost their jobs with economic slow-down, for children and teachers returning to school.
We pray for this community, for all who struggle to make sense of the world, for those who sit alone for long hours, for those seeking answers.
May we be empowered to bring about real change. Here and now. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ who taught us to pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done; on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/common-material/collects-post-communions/ordinary-time-after-pentecost%29
Worship at home 