Rembrance Service

This weeks online Remembrance Service for St Nicholas Methodist Church will take the form of an ‘outside broadcast’ from Exwick, Rougemont and Higher Cemetery’s War Memorials and Graves. 

Here is link 

In order to observe the 2 minutes silence at 11:00, please start the service at 10:30

Order of Service

Gathering Music  - David of the White Rock and Elgar’s Nimrod arr. PAC

Introit Jesus Stand Among Us

Call to worship (From Exwick Cemetery-War Graves)

SF 301 Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

Prayers of Approach, Confession & Lord’s Prayer (From Rougemont Gardens War Memorial)

Psalm  78:1-7

Matthew 25:1-13

Sermon Remembering (From the Walls of Rougemont Castle, Higher Cemetery War Memorials)

StF 132 O God our Help in ages past

Last Post, Silence and Reveille

The National Anthem (2 Verses)

Prayers of Intercession 

StF 690 The Church’s One Foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord

Blessing

Leaving music arr by PAC

1. I Vow to thee my country
2. O Valiant Heart
3. Sunset
4. All hail the power of Jesus Name

Exploring Street Theology

Lads at Play

In the picture we see two lads engaged in activity, one playing table tennis, another engaged in gymnastics with both listening to music. As I looked upon these images the notion of body mind and soul came to mind and in particular the answer a lawyer gave to Jesus’ question, as to what the most important law, to which he replied  'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'"

There are many influences that affect these three areas of our human existence; body mind and soul. During these 2nd lockdown days, we are becoming more and more aware of the necessity exercise and keeping bodies healthy. Similarly, protecting the health of our minds particularly during times of uncertainty is of growing importance.

So as I look at the image, I see the lad toning his body whilst exercising, and listening the music - the Psalmist in 71:23 talks about the music of the soul.  “My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have redeemed.” But what of the mind? Did you notice that the youth playing table tennis has the CND logo on his top; clearly something that has played upon his mind and he needs to express.

God desires that we grow in our relationship with Him continually—to love Him with our whole bodies, souls, minds, and strength: In Matthew "Jesus emphasised : 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37).

Our beliefs and attitudes, determined in large degree by our faith, will play a major role in our thinking patterns. Our day to day thinking will have an impact on our emotions and feelings, and our emotions and feelings will have a major impact on our behaviours. In this regard, our thought patterns play a significant role in our emotional, mental and physical health.

Mindfully caring for our heart – our ‘spiritual’ heart as well as our physical heart – is a huge part of being healthy.

Dear Lord, you remind me here that I often seek to justify my own selfishness. But the knowledge of the lawyer is not what you seek. It is my heart that you seek, and the acts of love and mercy that should flow freely out of my heart. Forgive me, and let your flame of love and mercy flare up afresh in my heart and consume my selfish tendencies.

Grant me, O Lord, to see everything now with new eyes, to discern and test the spirits that help me read the signs of the times, to relish the things that are yours, and to communicate them to others. I pray this as your disciple.  Amen

Exploring Street Theology

Women at the heart of the community

There were 12 disciples and they were all men, right? Well no! In the patriarchal world of 1st Century and perhaps through years of male domination in the church, the place and the importance of women in the Gospel can be so easily overlooked.

In fact Jesus had female disciples according to Luke 8:1-3:

“After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.”

Add to these the other Marys, his mother, the sister of Martha, and the women of Jerusalem who wept as Jesus was taken to Golgotha and crucified and you begin to get a picture of the place women had in the foundation of the church. It is perhaps important  to remember that Women were the last disciples at the cross and the first at the empty tomb. They remained integral to the work of the church in its early centuries. 

It is perhaps noteworthy the ratio of women entering ordained ministry is now greater than the number of men. Jesus came to earth not primarily as a male but as a person. He treated women not primarily as females but as human beings.” Jesus recognised women as fellow human beings.

Perhaps rather than debate the role of Male and Female we need to take the concept of New Testament teaching that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. The New Testament word for equality is ISOS from which we get the word isosceles and hence isosceles triangle; a form that has two sides of equal length. We are back to the strength of the triangle where the two equal sides need to be founded and grounded upon a strong base of the love of God who calls us to be coworkers.

Loving Lord, we come before you to celebrate and give thanks for the achievements of women, we remember the women who have played a part in our lives. Those who have nurtured us, taught us, inspired us, loved us. Forgive us when we have limited women through inequality, by stereotype, by exclusion, through lack of opportunity. As we acknowledge the challenges women still face, we pray that all women may know equality of healthcare, of education, of wealth, of prospects.

We pray that all women may know themselves to be respected, safe, included, empowered. We ask these things in the name of Jesus in whom there is neither male nor female. Amen.

Thursday’s Reflection

FAITH IN TIMES OF CRISIS No. 22 by Dr J P Hunter

Illustration ‘Desert Hills” by Rev’d Paul Collings

Psalm 55:1-2, 5-8, 16-18, 22. New International Version (NIV) – A maskil of David.

¹ Listen to my prayer, O God,
    do not ignore my plea;
²     hear me and answer me.
   My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught.

⁵ Fear and trembling have beset me;
    horror has overwhelmed me.
⁶ I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove!
    I would fly away and be at rest.
⁷ I would flee far away
    and stay in the desert;
⁸ I would hurry to my place of shelter,
    far from the tempest and storm.”

¹⁶ As for me, I call to God,
    and the Lord saves me.
¹⁷ Evening, morning and noon
    I cry out in distress,
    and he hears my voice.
¹⁸ He rescues me unharmed
    from the battle waged against me,
    even though many oppose me.

²² Cast your cares on the Lord
    and he will sustain you;

    he will never let
    the righteous be shaken.

    But as for me, I trust in you.

Meditation

As many of us are disappointed at the re-instatement of stricter measures and saddened by the closure of churches including St Nicholas, we turn to ancient Psalms to find words of comfort, healing and guidance.

Comfort, as we discover that we can hand over and leave all our disappointments, sadness and worries with Him. Healing for our souls as we share with Him in prayer all that is on our heart and minds and makes life burdensome and heavy. Guidance, as we discover that having left with Him all that is too much for us, our path becomes clearer and lighter as we learn and re-learn to live in trust that He knows the way.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, it is so good to know that whenever we are burdened or over-burdened, we can come to you and express our innermost to you for you are a listening and compassionate God. Even though our earthly eye cannot see you, you are present and you are near. Thank you for accepting my prayer. Thank you that you care for me. So, I will place my life into your hands and put my trust in you. Amen

Hymn StF 34:2

Low at his feet lay your burden of carefulness

High on his heart he will bear it for you,

Comfort your sorrows, and answer your prayerfulness,

Showing the pathway your feet should pursue.                             John Samuel Bewley Monsell (1811-1875)

Exploring Street Theology

Butterfly

It may surprise you that there is no biblical reference to the butterfly, whilst it’s close relative, the moth, is mentioned a number of times in the Old and New Testament.  We hear from Job stating  “While I am decaying like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.” Job 13:28 and Isaiah 51:8 claiming “For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the grub will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation to all generations.”

I suppose the most famous reverence to the activity of a moth is found in the words of Jesus, “store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;” Matthew 6:19

Yet, whilst there is no direct reference to a butterfly the Christian is encourage to emulate it’s metamorphic nature, of being transformed into something beautiful. Dodinsky once said “The butterfly said to the sun, ‘They can’t stop talking about my transformation. I can only do it once in my lifetime. If only they knew, they can do it at any time and in countless ways.”

Oftentimes we see transformation as a one-time act. We find a problem and work on it until it gets better, then we go back to living life as normal. But the heart of God is for continual transformation. God longs that we would be so open and aware of the desire of the Spirit that we allow him to transform us every moment of every day.

Too often we just accept that we are who we are as if the God we serve didn’t have the power to continually set us free. We live as if the Holy Spirit is a God who only shows up every now and then to shake things up then retreats back into the heavens. But God is both loving and present. He is always there for us. He is always filled with desire for us. And the Holy Spirit is constantly ready to lead us, in love, out of the darkness and into the marvellous light of abundant life.

A Prayer

Lord, I was a pile of ash

And you made me a light for the world. 

I was a stone

And you made me salt for the earth.

I was as lifeless as clay

And you made me part of the Body of Christ.

I was sinful

And you made me holy.

I was nothing

And you made me part of everything.

 

Lord, in you I am transformed

And transformed still again.

When the discouraged cry for hope, make me hope. 

When the hungry cry for bread, make me bread. 

When the thirsty cry for water, make me water.

When the suffering cry for help, make me help.

When the sick cry for healing, make me healing.

When the bound cry for freedom, make me freedom.

When the outcasts cry for love, make me love.

 

Lord who is hope,

who is bread and water,

who is help and healing,

who is freedom,

and who is love,

Transform me anew,

and so keep me close to you,

as you transform the world.

AMEN

Exploring Street Theology

 The golden apple

The golden apple is an element that appears in various national and ethnic folk legends or fairy tales. Recurring themes depict a hero such as Hercules retrieving the golden apples hidden or stolen by a monstrous antagonist.

In biblical thought the notion of a valued apple is beautifully put in Psalm 17:8 "Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings."

The phrase, “the apple of your eye,”  first was used in the Bible comes from a Hebrew expression that literally means “little man of the eye,” and it refers to the tiny reflection of yourself that you can see in other people’s pupils. To be the apple of someone’s eye clearly means that you are being gazed upon and watched closely by that person. Your very image is dancing in the eyes of that person!

Other verses in the King James Version of scripture use this endearing phrase and add to it’s meaning;

• Deuteronomy 32:10: "He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye". Depicting the lengths God will go to rescue the apple of his eye.
• Proverbs 7:2: "Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye". Here the writer reveals how we should live as Gods treasured possession
• Lamentations 2:18: "Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease". Speaks of our relationship with our creator.
• Zechariah 2:8: "For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye". And finally Zechariah reveals the protecting providence of God towards the Apple of his eye.

Loving heavenly Father, how happy I am to know that You are my Almighty God and You are ever watchful to save me from all the dangers and enemies in this world! I surrender myself and my family under Your special care.  I submit my sitting, standing, walking and travelling under Your loving eye.  Cover me and all of us under Your protecting wings.  Be a wall of fire around me. May Your beautiful name be glorified through me. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Exploring Street Theology

We now start an exploration of the community mosaic found in Tin Lane, St Thomas and viewing it as a piece of Street Theology

The Three Graces.

In Greek Mythology,  the names of the three Graces vary from source to source, as do the qualities that they represent. Commonly, they are known as Aglaea (Beauty/Splendour/Brightness/Elegance), Euphrosyne (Good Cheer/Mirth/Joyfulness) and Thalia (Youth/Beauty/Bloom/Festivities).

However, we need to be careful in our understanding of the word myth. It has two distinct meanings. Most people plumb for that which means a widely held but false belief or idea. However there is a deeper and perhaps more useful definition of “a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.”

Within christian thought and wisdom we have the image of three eternal graces as expressed in 1 Corinthians 13:13  “.... these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” and these three qualities play a key role in Paul's understanding of the Christian life. Together they are the ingredients for a Christian community—followers of Christ who can change their world though faithful "turning," and find joy even in suffering, through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

It is understood that Triangles are the strongest shape there are. Any weight placed on them is evenly distributed on all 3 sides. They represent geometric sturdiness; no matter how much weight you put on any side, it will not break.

Grace is the most important concept and strengthening premise found in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. This grace is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ. Grace is the love of God shown to the unlovely; the peace of God given to the restless; the unmerited favour of God. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be our strong foundation.

Lord God, give me the faith I need to know your will, the hope I need to accept your will, and the love I need to do your will, even when I don’t understand it, knowing that your way is better. I ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.