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For Spe C For For Yeah Well good morning and welcome to to worship this morning here we are first Sunday in March how’s everyone doing we’re approaching spring you see the crocuses and the daffodils coming up around us and uh some lovely hent on our street not in our garden but on our
Street and um we found I don’t know if you found this this is our first spring in in our house and we’re finding where all the bulbs have been planted by people before us and it’s beautiful you see them springing up in unexpected places so um there’s something beautiful
About that isn’t there there’s something beautiful about seeing Beauty uh even when when you’re not expecting it uh it’s good to be together isn’t it and may the beauty of the Lord Our God be upon us some announcements as we start uh thank you to everyone who attended our
Future shape meeting on Wednesday evening we had a great time together uh did some really uh useful work some really deep work uh that work will continue uh in Holy Week on Wednesday the 27th of March um you don’t need to have been to the first one to get
Involved in the rest of them or any of the other ones okay so please uh if you’re free Wednesday the 27th of March 7:45 here uh please do come along uh and be involved in that next Sunday I’m going to give a bit more of a a a report
Around uh the conversations that we had this Wednesday but but because it’s self denile in gathering Sunday this week we just haven’t the time so we’ll save that for next week if that’s okay and trust me it’s going to be worth the wait all right turn to your neighbor and say
It’ll be worth it some other uh some other announcements Holy Week and Easter is coming up we’ve got our a big experienced easter event happening on uh Sunday the 24th and that is going to be um very very exciting so um there’s a planning team uh there’s still some
Places on the planning team um but all of us are going to be on the execution team okay all of us are going to get involved execution team that’s right I mean execution team get it see what I did there with the Easter eggs and um and so we’re going to celebrate Easter
And lean into that experience of Holy Week with our neighborhood so um even in these days would you bring your friends uh invite your family members your grandchildren your children your pets I don’t know anyone who you can uh uh wrestle or cool here bring them along
We’re going to have a great time together some other things that we’ve got planned for Holy Week so you’ll see a poster that looks a bit like this out in the um coffee area so have a look at what we’ve got planned I’ll print some
Of these off for next Sunday um but uh we start Holy Week with experience Easter on Monday the 25th of March we’ll have a special uh Easter session of Teddy toddlers so that’ll be nice if you’ve got little ones make sure that’s in the diary um on Tuesday the 26th of
March we would uh typically have a online Bible study in that week where there’s no rehearsals um we’re going to have an in-person Holy Week meditation that evening um so that’s going to be uh here at at the normal time 7:45 um and uh we’ll be be over by 9:00
And um Vanessa is going to be leading that uh on Wednesday the 27th uh we’ll have our future shape session too and that’s going to be uh we’re going to be working on uh reflecting and Discerning okay reflecting and Discerning and uh if you weren’t there on Wednesday you’ll understand that
That’s in the context of a whole cycle of uh actions that we’re taking um but I’ll talk more about that next week but put it in your diary 27th of March the Wednesday evening that week Thursday the 28th of March we’re going to have our special Easter coffee morning so I’m
Hoping that there’s like mini eggs with like in chocolate nests do you know what I mean like when you mix the chocolate with the Corn Flakes where’s Janet Janet you’re taking notes Here There we go with the mini eggs in it and um and then after after coffee
Morning uh we’re going to have a bring and share love feast and uh we’re going to in that love Feast there’s an invitation for you to bring um something to share uh with all of us to eat together um but also in that uh time together we’re going to be reflecting on
Jesus last meal with his disciples and that as a pattern for Christian Fellowship so um do Let us know if you’re coming along to that and that will be on Thursday from 12 uh o’ Good Friday we’ll be participating in the church’s together walk of witness and air meeting uh that is at
11:00 um in the Town Center we’ll bring more details uh to you around where to meet um if you can’t walk uh that kind of distance please don’t put that let that put you off you can meet us in the Town Square outside of Christ Church um
Where there’ll be an open air witness meeting um and if you’d like to be on some Outreach an Outreach team which will involve having Easter eggs and giving them to people and saying here is a present from the church to wish you a happy Easter God bless you really simple
Really accessible if you’d like to uh be on an Outreach team doing that simple kind of uh generosity evangelism uh if you let me know um because we’d love to have you involved that evening uh on at 6 o’ on Good Friday we’re going to have a tenra
Service uh sometimes called a service of Shadows and we will be extinguishing candles as we go throughout uh the service recognizing that Good Friday was a dark day for us and yet recognizing the hope of the Resurrection is still present in our midst so uh that’s going
To be a reflective um uh and quite solemn event um it’s not going to be very jolly but it will be uh deeply meaningful we’re hoping to uh have um a movie on as well for the kids if um if they want we’re thinking The Lion The
Witch in the wardrobe aren’t we for for them which has some lovely Good Friday themes in it so uh yes that would be great and then of course on Sunday the 30 31st of March is the uh Resurrection celebration here at 11:00 in the morning some um people who need prayer
Uh Debbie and Matthew and the rest of the friends and family uh Mick was um was taken this week and we just want to remember them in prayer uh uh Fred’s funeral today uh Freda and Ted of course are leading the funeral and we want to
Be lifting them up in prayer and lifting the friends and family there uh continued prayer for for Neil and his family as they are saying goodbye to his mom uh Amanda’s been a little unwell this week so if we can remember her in prayers um we send with our blessing Ian
He’s gone to IND India uh this morning he’s about to get on a plane any second now to get on a plane for India where he’s going to be um helping and supporting communities um who are looking at public health and and Community Health um in India in very
Very difficult conditions so we want to be lifting in prayer the communities that Ian’s going to support and um uh yeah asking God’s help there okay oh thanks yeah uh there’s first aid training after the meeting today um and so if you are a volunteer you’re involved in midweek you’re a local
Officer or you’re just interested in being equipped to help people um please stick around lunch is being provided the training is being provided free of charge to you and um it should be good but if you deciding to stay and you haven’t already please let Vanessa know
You’re staying that’ll be great it will be over by 2 hear that Peter yeah good now we have been using this Lent and cross these candles to help us count down the Sundays to lent and we have this liturgy that we’ve been practicing where um I’ll say the darkness deepens
Sorry I’ll say the darkness deepens and we all reply Lord with me abide and uh and so we’re going to um uh extinguish some candles just now uh and recognize that um even though the darkness deepens God is abiding with us God is with us and God is always with
Us this uh is from Matthew 26 Jesus told them this very night you will all fall away on account of me for it is written I will will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered but after I have risen I will go ahead of you to
Galilee Peter replied even if all fall away on account of you I never will truly I tell you Jesus answered this very night before the rooster crows you will disown me three times the darkness deepens Lord with me abide we continue in Psalm 119 uh would you read the words in bold with
Me do good to your servant according to your word Lord teach me know and good judgment for I trust in your commands before I was afflicted I went astray but now I obey your word you are good and what you do is good teach me your decrees though the Arrogant have smeared
Me with lies I keep your precepts with all my heart hearts are it’s good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees amen and so Jesus even in these moments we want to lay hold of your word we want to lay hold of your teaching and
We want to hold it close to our hearts like precious gold and silver would you help us would you speak to us and would you move amongst us holy God we ask in Jesus name amen well we’re going to stand together and sing and uh and this song says give me
Joy in my heart keep me praising it’s one of the tensions of the Christian Life and of the person of Jesus is that he was uh at once a Man of Sorrows and a man of Joy there’s a tension here for us and even in this
Uh Lenton time even if in this season of uh sorrow um we have joy in our hearts and we praise and then of course uh in the final verse here it says give me peace in my heart keep me resting that’s a poignant one for us this invitation into Sabbath rest and um
That we aren’t workhorses that uh that the whip gets cracked on but God invites us into rhythms of both work and rest let’s stand and we’ll sing uh this straight through Together heart heart PR PR to the Great [Applause] Heart my heart Pray My Heart [Applause] [Applause] in my heart me give me love in my heart I my [Applause] [Applause] Heart amen please take your seats and uh we’re going to watch the final of our self-denial videos just now on the screen hello and welcome to the last of our films for this year’s self-denial Appeal salvation Army officership has been our Focus this year as we think about the international work of the Salvation Army for the last few weeks we’ve joined Salvation Army officers in three different parts of the world in Greenland we met Captain Nathaniel in India we met captains Antony and marimi
And in Uruguay we met left tenants Jose and Kayla we’ve had a glimpse of their daily Liv lives Nathaniel is serving in nuke in Greenland he’s the only Salvation Army officer in the whole Country we are functioning uh mostly with money from abroad some from Denmark some from the UK some from International Mission funding the number of lives that we are touching and we’ve been involved in it’s amazing this is very important work uh great work that is only possible because faithful Believers from other countries
Give Sacrificially captains Anthony and marimi run an adult Rehabilitation Center in eastern India the center helps men with addictions to drugs and alcohol and supports them on their recovery Journey the work is hard but Anthony and marimi are absolutely committed to following God’s Call last week we met Li tenants Jos and Kayla who run two Salvation Army Corps in Salto in Uruguay and host a daily food distribution program they’re confident about why the Salvation Army is needed in the City Your self-denial money will support the global mission of the Salvation Army some goes to our mission Partners the rest to International headquarters who distribute it to the parts of the world that need need it most it funds the essential background things that enable the vital Frontline work to carry on
Year after year and that includes the amazing work being done all around the world by Salvation Army officers it’s not too late to give to self-denial you may have already used this year’s collection box or the envelope this QR code links to a donate option on salvationist
Org.uk and if you have a standing order set up you can make a payment that way the self-denial appeal is all about enabling the Salvation Army’s Mission around the world and the Salvation Army officers we’ve seen are playing their part the Salvation Army is doing some incredible work in some very diverse and
Often challenging places a lot of the work we’ve seen is only possible because of the money that’s given through self-denial the work doesn’t stop there’s more to be done and your self-denial money is making and will make a world of difference over the years so many of you have given generously and
Selflessly thank you for what you have already given and for what you are going to give this year and let’s remember self Dena happens in Salvation Army Core around the the world so while we think about our contributions here our sisters and brothers worldwide are doing the Same praise God self-denial is my favorite of the appeals that we have because we see just the uh the gifts that we give can make such an impact uh for King for the Kingdom’s sake around the world you might have an envelope like this you might have uh a collecting
Box you might not have brought your gift today and that’s okay um you can still bring it in the week or next week and um we’ll figure that out uh you might like to use the QR code that’s going to come up on the screen um Andy has very
Helpfully put um backs details in the core WhatsApp group if you’re not in that group and you’d like to give in that way um then uh we will look at that uh for you with you later after the meeting today we’re going to uh so here’s the QR code we’re going to sing
Um a song uh as we bring our gifts to God and after that we’re going to spend some time in prayer um for our partners in Mission territories uh for these places that we’ve been looking at um and also in prayer for God’s Mission through the Salvation Army Around The World the
Song that we’re going to sing says this our time of self-denial I think the words are going to come up here we as faithful soldiers keep by our consecrated giving wider Fields our comrades reap souls in darkness yet a calling come and help us still they cry
With our gift our hearts outpouring we will help them lest they die there are situations in our world uh today uh where Christians are persecuted and killed for their faith we partner with them and so many others in welcoming the kingdom through our prayers and through our giving we’ve got
Um uh collecting plates on the mercy seats here and at the front um in our second verse and onwards I’m going to invite you as we sing through to bring your gifts and lay them on those collecting Pates uh symbolizing you offering these up uh to the Lord as
Consecrated gifts uh let’s sing together I think we’ll need to stand for this One Dark heart Glory we Will All To sound TR For The father we uh offer we make our offerings to you freely willingly uh we a make them eagerly Desiring that you should be honored and worshiped by our gifts and that your kingdom might come and your will be done here on Earth around the world as in heaven we make this prayer
In Jesus name amen take your seats we’re going to continue in a Time ofay prayer just now and um our brothers and sisters around the world uh have sent in some prayer requests for us and um I think we’ve got some slides you’ll have to go before the
Song because I’ve changed the order here that’s my bad so you can see here uh Nook in Greenland is uh 2,3 mil from woking uh mam is 5,120 m from working and Salto is 6,687 MIL from waking they’re far away from us and yet we are one with them in
Christ Jesus who is Redeeming the whole world to himself and on the next slide here we’ve got uh the the requests for prayer um language and communication challenges awareness of God’s unconditional love homelessness poverty resources for nutrition and healing flooding adverse weather and the Bible
Club we’re going to have a time of open prayer just now and I invite you to voice your prayer out loud uh for these places and so many others around the world let’s pray we thank you Father God that through um the service of those people that we’ve been introduced to who are
Our colleagues uh our officer colleagues salvationists who are working in those uh difficult challenging conditions we pray that the people will be aware of your unconditional love that through the service of our friends that they will come to realize that there is a God who loves them and
Who cares for them despite and in spite of their situation thank you Father God for all those who work with such people throughout the world in Jesus name amen thank you make usare and by your mercy by the gift you give to us we thank you that you share them we ask in
All be Jesus Almighty father as we think of a world that seems to be shrinking in distance in time where the ease of being on the other side of the world is made simpler than it everything we are aware of the communication challenges that place years of
Trouble how easy it is Lord to forget that there are people who speak a different language to us who have a different experience to us who live in a different culture to us not necessarily on the other side of the world but in a different side of our own Community here in
Working father help us to remember to look up and reach out to look up to you for inspiration for guidance and reassurance but to look out to those around us we live in one world where the effect of climate felt Australia have an effect on us here
Working where the title flows in the Pacific affect the title flows in the T we have but one gospel and it is our responsibility to Proclaim that gospel to the best of our ability using every resource that we have and we have but one Army Lord we are grateful and for the
Sal for the purposeful mission that start in a tent that now has buildings and properties and Personnel all over the world but that just doesn’t just keep happening Lord he needs our participation to enable that to be facilitated to take our gifts take the barriers and make them the
Opportunities take the challenges and give us the opportunities take the uncertainty and make them the possibilities because you are our one God we love with all our hearts and so Lord we lift to you our brothers and sisters in uh in India and in Uruguay and in Greenland and
Everywhere else around our world we pray that the good work you’ve started in them that you’ll bring to fullness and the good work you’ve started in US you’ll bring to fullness so that we can see your kingdom come around us more and more in Jesus name
Amen amen now kids are you ready for a story Vanessa is she’s very excited about this one so if you’d like to come and join me uh out the front here you can sit on the carpet Vanessa is going to tell us a very very exciting story
Grown-ups coming up on the screen look at that it’s pretty cool Grand thank you all right I don’t know if you figured this out yet but on our Parables this little ribbon at the front tells you what story is inside so if you’re looking for it do
You want to come and sit here so you can see this you can’t see is a parable and there might be something exciting inside for us to see do you want to sit this side and then the others can see as well I wonder this is very gold and gold is
Special and precious isn’t it and so maybe there’s something special and precious inside parables are special and precious for us I think there’s a parable inside if you give me a little bit more space we can put it down I wonder now there once was someone who
Said such amazing things and did such amazing things that wherever he went people followed him and he told Parables that helped them understand who he really was and what he was really like I wonder if there’s something inside that can help us know that Parable today now this is very Brown isn’t it
And it’s a kind of scratchy Brown you can have a feel of it if you like see what it’s like it’s a bit rough I wonder what it could be looks like you could have a fill it with potatoes and be a big sack of potatoes couldn’t it it could be one
Really big potato and you could have really big baked beans on top lots of cheese hello do you want to sit next to me so I can I can’t tell a story with you around my neck so so if you it here that would be very helpful if you just
Shuffle around a little bit and then you can see it on the Telly as well now maybe that’s not everything that we need maybe we can use this as well I wonder what this could be a big sausage a big sausage to go with that
Potato it could be a scarf or even a tie cuz it’s got a pointy end hasn’t it a road it could be a road I wonder if it is a road could go from here to over here couldn’t it well one time someone came up to
Jesus and wanted to know what is really important and Jesus said I think you know already and he said I do know already the most important thing is to love God and to love your neighbor but who really is my neighbor and then Jesus said this this is Jerusalem and this is
Jericho we need some more bits to tell our story this one is a dark sad place there’s no light in this is there I can’t see through that I think we’ve got everything we need there once was a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when
Two bad men came can you leave Jericho there thank you and they attacked him and they hurt him and they took everything that he had and took his clothes and then they ran away but then a priest from the temple was coming down that road from Jerusalem
And when he saw the man he crossed over to the other side of the road because he didn’t want to help him and carried on on his way and then another man called a levite who helped the priests in the temple came past and also saw the man and did
Not want to help him either and crossed to the other side of the road and went on his way and then a man came who was not from Jerusalem he was from a place called Samaria he was a Samaritan and he his people were not friends with the man’s
People and so the man thought he’s not going to stop to help me but as he came past he did and he came and he helped the man and he put him on his donkey and covered him with his clothes and took him to somewhere overnight that he could be
Looked after and be safe and fed and warm and have somewhere to rest and then the next morning he gave them extra money to look after the man to make sure that he would be okay now I wonder who was the neighbor I wonder whether it was the man who
Helped or whether it was The Men Who Lived close who were near who who could have been friends and helpers to the man who was hurt I wonder if the if the bad men who hurt were a neighbor if they were near that one was a bad man wasn’t it
This one should I put it a little bit closer so you can see these ones I wonder whether these men were neighbors to each other or whether these men were neighbors to each other I wonder who is a neighbor to us yeah they coming back thank you so we have the man who
Traveled the Samaritan man who helped him we have the priest and the levite and the bad man who hurt him they traveled from Jerusalem to Jericho I wonder who the neighbor really was I’m going to put them away and we can take them with us if you’d like to
Keep looking at those when we go out the back would you like to we can and I think Naomi’s got some really fun things to play with today as well and we have a video that we can watch as well about the Samaritan shall we go would you like to help me thank
You shall we pray for our young people father thank you for these dear ones that you entrust to us we ask that you would bless them bless their grown-ups teachers help them to have a time close to you this morning and every day in Jesus name
Amen well we’re going to uh wait upon you for the collection just now and um if you’d like to give uh with uh cash or checks there’s a bowl at the back there um there’s a a QR code here for the give app uh or if you’d like to set up a
Standing order to give if you talk to uh the core Treasurer Andy after the meeting he can help you with that uh but we’ll reflect on this music as we reflect on our giving to God in ch Thank you for your provision in our lives Sovereign Lord and we pray that you would provide for our needs according to your riches in glory amen amen amen well we’re going to have opportunity to share our stories uh in just a moment we’re going to sing a song
Together uh there are people hurting in the world today they need you they need me they need Christ and uh and as we sing through this there’s going to be opportunity uh to give testimony to God’s work in your life uh it might be through someone helping you or the
Privilege of helping someone else um but as we sing uh would you think about where You’ we’ve seen God at work um in your world this week this month this year uh and in your life is that okay so we’ll sing the first verse in the chorus
And then we’ll take a pause to share Story please remain Seated the world they Christ children Crying C Cry there are lot of I there are lots of folks that I know who haven’t got time on a Sunday for God or time in any the any days of the week for God because they feel sufficient in what they’ve done got often they’ll say I believe there’s
Something there but I don’t know what it is and when you look at some of the lives that they’re living oh it almost destroys you because they are in a terrible mess and you talk with them and it’s just like water off a duck’s back but one of the things that Bible tells
Me is that when we speak on God’s behalf out of love for the soul then that is not wasted and at sometime in their life they’ll being reminded of it and I thank God it’s not just up to me or you but it’s up to him to do the finishing Works amen
Um I’ve already been thinking about somebody I um oh yes stand up sorry um that I had um that I met a few weeks ago it was quite a profound sort of situation I was traveling on the train back from London about a month ago I think and most people know that you
Don’t generally talk to the people on the train do you you kind of everybody sits there with their own little corner I got on the train and then there was a lady um sitting opposite me and she started to talk to me from Scotland and um and she suddenly started to engage me
In conversation that was lovely um and quite amazingly she traveled down from from Scotland that day was going to go and visit her sister who happens to live in the street next to us in lightwater which was an interesting starting point in the first instance but what so impacted me about
This particular conversation was that while we were talking her phone was going her phone went and I could hear the conversation or her part of the conversation and it was clear to me that some something difficult was happening in her family um and uh she came off the
Phone and started talking to me um about the fact that her father um who was very elderly um had been taken to hospital the day before and her husband was telling her at that point that they had decided that they wouldn’t do um oh Peter can tell them
The phase that do not resit sort of do not resuscitate sort of thing that they were not going to do anything with the problem because it was too dangerous for him um and so she was taking that all in on the train journey um and we’d already had this conversation she started to
Talk to me all about this and about and and then I was sharing a little bit about what happened with my my father and my mother last year and then the phone went again and then obviously conversation was um also was occurring where she was say oh yes well I’m not
Power of attorney I’m an executive the will and all that kind of stuff and it was very impactful on me CU I was par of attorney for both of my parents um I was also an executive on the will and so we engaged the whole way back to woking in
This very unique kind of conversation where she was going through this really difficult experience and I was sitting opposite to her Living Next almost next door to her sister and having experienced some of these things in just in the last recent weeks so it’s
It’s been in my mind um over a number of weeks and I passed by the road this morning traveling I thought I wonder how that lady is and then I so I share that this morning as um something about just in the most unexpected places um one can
Just be there for somebody um and just I just was myself in that time there was nothing forced about that so sorry it’s a bit long-winded but it was quite a powerful impactful story for me thank you thank you for sharing that Y what a beautiful example of these um
Opportunities God gives us fantastic let’s sing the second verse uh Together Chris they they They anyone else who wishes to share with the intention of receiving something sometimes not all things that we give up are wise or wonder wonderful or thoughtful or measured or considered a year ago I decided to give up alcohol which on the outside sounds like a wise thing to do but if I
Didn’t the realities of losing my marriage and my job the security the certainty we’re all on the other side of the scale and in that moment in that police cell it seemed to be an easy decision to make why wouldn’t I but self-denial sacrifice needs to be done every
Day because sometimes we forget how hard it is to give things up or our minds play tricks and say oh go on it’s just one it’ll be fine so sometimes sacrifice and self-denial needs to be something that you do every single moment of the day I can’t profess that I will never
Touch alcohol again but my motiv a is just for today and then this song got me thinking about the people outside and the reality is God needs to use me just as I am not what I think I should be or where I should be or a place when I think I’m
Fixed because in my Brokenness there is a vulnerability in my openness on a train somebody sees something in me that I don’t always see myself my testimony is that sacrifice is always going to cost but ultimately that price was paid for on the cross
And what I have to do is to take myself off the cross of self-punishment of self-doubt of low selfworth or shame and give it to somebody else because I won’t change completely until I do and until I change I’m no use out there because I’m still broken in
Here and I thank all of you espe some of you who picked up the phone and sent a text who listen when other people’s need and never gave up writer uh who happens to be married to my older brother who wrote a song that said if I admit that I’m
Broken and you admit that you’re broken too maybe God can piece us back together making a beautiful picture that never else could have been the reality is is church isn’t a a place for Shiny Happy People it’s a hospital for wounded souls and all of us are finding our healing in the presence
Of Christ in our midst and all of us are on a journey toward Redemption and healing and we journey with one another in all of our broken imperfection in all of our pain and our realness it’s the way of the cross God help us let’s sing uh this verse uh
We we’ll skip this one we’ll go to the fourth verse and um and then we’ll share a short prayer before we read the scriptures Together Are afraid to say Father thank you that you lead us in Paths of righteousness for your name’s sake that your rod and staff Comfort us and though we walk through the darkest Valley you are with us help us Lord Lord amen amen scriptures going to be read to us today by Bill thanks
Bill on one occasion an expert in the law stood stood up to test Jesus teacher he asked what must I do to inherit eternal life what is written in the law he replied how do you read it he answered 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 neighbor as yourself you’ve answered correctly Jesus replied do this and you will live but he wanted to justify himself so he asked Jesus and who is my neighbor in reply Jesus said A man was
Going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers they stripped him of his clothes beat him and went away leaving him half dead a priest happened to be going down the same road and when he saw the man he passed by on the other
Side so too a levite when he came to the place and saw him passed by on the other side but a s Samaritan as he traveled came to where the man was and when he saw him he took pity on him he went to him bandaged his wounds
Pouring on oil and wine then he put the man on his own donkey brought him to an inn and took care of him the next day he took out two dinari and gave them to the inkeeper look after him he said and when I return I will
Reimburse you for any extra expense you have which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell in into the hands of the robbers the expert in law replied the one who had mercy on him Jesus told him go and do likewise
It’s a familiar story to this uh this one isn’t it to us uh it’s it’s probably one of the more familiar of the stories in the Bible even to people who might not consider themselves Christians and actually throughout the New Testament when Jesus is asked this question what’s most important in the
Law he comes to this answer love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself on Wednesday evening at our future shape meeting we looked at some of the uh the current kind of uh vision and Mission slogans that the Salvation
Army is using these days we’ve got them up here on the wall here one of them in the Middle with the red shield uh says love God love others it’s a it’s a succinct um beautiful uh way to communicate this deep truth that our mission is to love God with our whole
Heart soul mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself there’s an invitation for us to love the other perhaps it’s one of the tensions in both this story and in that slogan is that there’s this invitation to love the other we might think that it’s not a
Good thing to um consider people as other as different as uh not like us but I think that’s the very point of this story of this parable loving your friends loving the people who are like you is easy Jesus said even the pagans do that Matthew 5 verse 46
There’s no special virtue in loving our friends and hating our enemies anyone can do that but loving your enemies loving the stranger loving the other that’s an act of the grace of God and so we have this expert in the law uh in our story who comes to Jesus and uh
And he says what do I have to do uh to inherit eternal life and Jesus said you you know what it is he says love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind strength love your neighbor as yourself that’s that’s what I reckon he says to Jesus you’re right Jesus
Said but the scriptures say he wants to justify himself he wants to justify himself and the Temptation for all of us in our spiritual life when we come to Jesus and say what must I do to be saved the Temptation is to justify ourselves we do a disservice not just to
God but to ourselves and one another when we say actually I’m okay I got it together I’m good I’m not in need I haven’t messed up when we seek to justify ourselves or rewrite the rules to mean something that gets us past the line and so he asks yeah but who’s my
Neighbor how narrowly can I draw the ring around the people that I have to love what’s the line that I can go up to who can I hate with impunity it’s just my own people right just the ones in my religion or in my ethnicity in my culture in my class
Group just the people who looked and act and believe and live and think like me right that’s my neighbor right Jesus those are the ones I have to love not the difficult people and the awkward people and the foreign people and the weird people not them right Jesus
It’s interesting choice of the word neighbor here uh it means uh near the Greek word uh means the a near one it’s um it’s actually literally translated as nearby uh who do uh you got to love those nearby um I thought that we could ask Eric to say nearby in his beautiful
Northern accent and it might sound a bit like neighbor nearby there we go it sounds a little bit like neighbor could you say neighbor for usby yeah and that sounds like nearby there we go thank you the choice of the word neighbor by uh by the the writers of the Old
Testament indicates that this is uh about our people and in fact it comes from a verse in uh in in Deuteronomy 19 where where it says um when you have conflict around uh with people in uh the tribe of Israel uh you’ve got to love your neighbor as you love
Yourself so the context of this from the Old Testament law is that this applies to the holy huddle this applies to us this applies we can narrowly Define who our neighbor is and yet that’s not what Jesus teaches we have this story this Parable a man’s going from Jerusalem to Jericho
He’s attacked by robbers they strip him of his clothes they beat him and they leave him half dead a priest’s coming down the road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side why does a priest pass by a distressed and broken
Man why does he pass by on the other side of the road any ideas fantastic so we’ve got a ceremonial Purity thing here if he didn’t know if he was actually dead but if he’s touching a dead body it makes him ceremonially unclean for the rest of
The day and he can’t perform his religious duties any other reasons why he might not why he might pass by the other side he’s too busy perhaps he’s too busy I’m on the clock here I’m going to be late for the prayer meeting better not help this person yeah thank
You the robbers could be still nearby this guy might be in cahoots with them he might be feigning injury here let me get off my donkey and try and help here ah now we’ve got you in a vulnerable position we’re going to beat you and take your stuff yeah they’re all good
Reasons if I look in the mirror there are all reasons that I might give to not help someone the phone uh rings at uh halfast 3 on a Friday afternoon doesn’t it John always as an officer halfast 3 it’s like clockwork hello I’ve got someone who
Needs help why at half 3 on a Friday afternoon I got to get my kid from school I got to enjoy my weekend I’m I’m too busy for this do they really need help do I lack compassion all sorts of things can go on even for Salvation Army officers so too
The levite comes and for the very same reasons perhaps that we’ve explored a levite uh is a temple worker so a priest would do the ceremonial jobs in the temple a levite would do some ceremonial jobs but mainly the Levites job is um all the Practical jobs that are actually
Useful okay so this might be someone like Darren or Amanda so I I I’m very rarely useful but Darren and Amanda their job’s very useful they’re going down same reasons though I got stuff on I got to set up for the meeting I’ve got to make sure that I’m doing the
Thing pass by on the other side but a Samaritan now these Samaritans we don’t trust them they’re not like us the Samaritans are the dirty ones they’re the compromised ones they’re the cursed ones perhaps the Samaritans you see when the nation of Israel got taken into Exile in
Babylon the Samaritans with a riffraff left behind that intermarried with the Canaanite tribes around so their blood’s not pure and they mixed up the religion of God the worship of God with the folk religions from around so their their worships not pure and they look and they speak just
Enough like us for us to really really hate them we don’t like these Samaritans at all and yet the Samaritan comes he sees the man sees the man and he takes pity on him and he bandages his wounds and he pours on oil and wine these this is a crude folk
Medicine and he put the man on his own donkey so now he’s walking and he takes him to an inn to take care of him and he looks after him all that day he’s delayed his own trip and then he gives the inkeeper to dinari that’s two days wages
He gave it to the inkeeper look after him when I return I’ll give you anything else here’s my credit card number any other expenses charged to my account there’s this outpouring of care of generosity that perhaps sees the risk for his own personal safety maybe these
Guys are robbers but I can’t just let this guy bleed out on the street maybe I am busy maybe I’m going to miss my business meeting but I can’t just let this guy suffer here yes it’s expensive to pay for a hotel room for this guy I don’t know yes
I’ve got to walk and get all sweaty and Dusty when I was hoping to do this journey on my donkey yes I’ve got to take extra time out of my day to to care for this and yet I’ve got to do it he’s not even like me he’s not even a
Samaritan the Jews hate Samaritans he’s going to be as grateful as any other Jew toward us Samaritans but I’ve got to do it which of these three do you think was a neighbor Jesus asks to the man who F fell into the hands of robbers this is a really interesting
Question to me and I’ve been trying to figure it out so the question we usually ask at the end or the way that we normally read this question as we come to the end of this Parable isn’t so much who is my neighbor but who is loving
Their neighbor in this question in this in this Parable who’s loving their neighbor here and the the answer of course is the Samaritan the one who had mercy on him it’s not the wrong question to ask but it isn’t what Jesus question is who was a neighbor to the one beaten by
Robbers who is my neighbor is the question that we started with with that the that the man came to Jesus with who was a neighbor to the one beaten by robbers it’s the Samaritan the one who has Mercy was a neighbor who should I love the ones who have mercy on
Me the ones that help me do you see that yes Jesus is inviting us to love those who need help and to help those who need help and yet that’s not the question he asks who’s the neighbor to the man who needs help who’s the one who I’ve got to love
The one who has mercy on me the ones who help me can you see how this relationship stops being about me being the Savior and me being the helper and me being the one who’s got my act together and you being the subject of my help and you
Being the one who is uh is um lying bleeding on the side of the road that I’m fixing but now what we’ve got rather than me helping you is you’re helping me and maybe I’m helping you and and actually what we’re doing is journeying together do you see the mutuality in
This do you see the shared uh relationship in this and it’s interesting that the teacher of the law doesn’t say oh it’s the Samaritan that’s the neighbor he uses this word the one who has Mercy the one who has Mercy this teacher of the law would have been operating
Primarily in Hebrew this New Testament is written in Greek but he’s he’s uh working primarily in the Hebrew language the word for Mercy is usually translated from the Hebrew word hessed and the word hessed combines the idea of unconditional love generosity and enduring commitment it’s the rich
Quality of a society that that is in right relationship with each other Mercy isn’t just you don’t get what you deserve in the Old Testament idea ofed in the one who has Mercy this is me fulfilling my responsibility to you as someone who’s made in the image of God
And you fulfilling your responsibility to me as someone who’s made in the image of God I don’t know how good you are at helping others the act of helping I think draws Us nearby neighbor when I help you I’ve got to come close to you because unless we’re
Close I can’t help impact through contact if I really wanted to hit John Major John right now he’s not going to be afraid because I’m 5 meters away from him and I could swing the best punch ever and I’d have no impact on him I’ve got to get close to him if I
Want an impact right I’m not going to hit you but if I do you’ve got to turn the other cheek to the act of helping draws Us nearby it’s heart proximity rather than a geographical one that that Jesus is inviting us into here but listen to
This the act of being helped also draws Us nearby Jesus said uh in Luke 5 it’s better to give than to receive and I don’t think he was saying that we should always give and not receive I think he was observing the fact that when we give it makes us feel
Good good makes us feel powerful it makes us feel whole we get a lot out of giving don’t we when we receive it makes us feel in need makes us feel like we’re not enough by ourselves and yet the reality is none of us are Enough by ourselves all of us are in
Need all of us need help all of us need love and support and the generosity of others the act of helping draws Us nearby and so does the act of being helped that’s what hessed is that’s what neighborliness is I’ll borrow a cup of sugar from you this week you borrow a
Cup of flour from me next week who is your neighbor who is your neighbor who has God given you to love to walk alongside to care for and who is a neighbor to you who is God given to you to love you to walk alongside support and care for you I
Wonder how you can better love your neighbor even if they are the other I wonder how you can better allow others to love and help you we’re going to sing we’re going to pray this song says I I have not much to give thee Lord for that great love which made me
Thine but all I have is thine it’s a song of consecration it’s a song saying yeah I I am in poverty I am in need I need help from you from my brothers and sisters I need support I need picking up off the side of the road
Sometimes and I want to be the one who’s supporting and picking up off the side of the road too I want to love my neighbor I want to be in a hassed relationship with my community recognizing that it is the love of God that helps us to do
That so we’re going to sing this song if you’d like to make a response to God and kneel The Mercy Seat you’re very welcome to do that someone will come and pray with you but for all of us let’s use these moments to offer oursel fresh to the invitation to love the Lord
Our god with our whole heart and soul and mind and strength and love our neighbors as ourself See Will I Child To I For me The I feel My I wonder if someone would share a prayer for us just now father thank you for all that you’ve done for us and we realize today that we can never repay all your goodness to us but Lord as we’ve been singing We have much to give you all may that desire
Us day we so need you in our lives we so need you to help us and guide us because we are nothing we are nothing at all without your help and so Lord continue to be with us and speak to us and guide us and may we day by day give you our
Heart give you our love give you our lives so that we may love you and serve you with all our heart in Jesus name amen amen amen let’s sing this fourth verse together For With Amen amen well we’ll finish with uh a short chorus but one that recognizes that the world is needing us and Christ is leading us and it invites us to be true to the calling as Jesus disciples to go into the world and preach his good news and share his love with our world
We’ll stand together and we’ll sing this through twice please uh before our benediction Us us us Us are us Christ us be True us Christ [Applause] is Us us will for souls are leing us CHR g o why glory and so may the Lord bless you and keep you may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you may the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace amen and amen For Oh You
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I love dipping in and out of these online services so thank you for this weeks 🙏