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St Clement Church Community Tenth after Trinity Sunday Service

Good morning to you all and welcome to our service

Faith – what is it?

The dictionary says

Complete trust or confidence in someone or something
Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion or spiritual conviction rather than proof
The firm belief in something for which there is no proof

What would be your definition of your faith be? What do you believe and why?

My love to you all

Liz

Let us pray;

O Lord, our God, you are worthy of all our praise. You are the God who never fails to keep his promises. We thank you that in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection we see your love, justice, mercy, provision and victory. You are the God who provides for your children.

You are the way, the truth and the life, let us love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We pray this in your name.

Amen

Creator God,

you made us all in your image:

may we discern you in all that we see,

and serve you in all that we do;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

Hymn: 495 God is working his purpose out

Prayer of Penitence

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour in thought, word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.

Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity

Let your merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of your humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please you; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen

Readings:

Exodus 16. 2 – 4, 9 – 15

Ephesians 4. 1 – 16

Hymn: 431 O thou who camest from above

Gospel: John 6. 24 - 35

(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were at the place where Jesus had given the bread, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’

Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’

Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’

So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whosoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ)

Reflection

‘I’m hungry!’ We’ve all said that at some time, haven’t we? But what do we mean? The chances are we’ve missed a meal or done something strenuous that has used up an excessive number of calories and we’re feeling a bit empty.

Hunger – the noun that goes with the verb ‘to be hungry.’ What does that mean? Surely the same as to be hungry. Well, I’m not sure that it does, exactly. Hunger is an extreme emptiness, physically or mentally or spiritually or all three; it cannot be solved by a quick bite of bread or fish.

Did you know that in 19^th century China, and maybe all across Asia, there was a name given to people who came to church for one reason and one reason only – because they were hungry … hungry for material food.

They converted to Christianity, were baptised, joined the Church and were active members as long as their physical needs were met by the generosity of the congregation.

But, once their economic situations improved and they and their families no longer needed rice, they drifted away from the Church.

And so, they were called ‘rice Christians.’

Something similar happened in East Germany and Romania just before the liberation of Eastern Europe – when the priests were speaking out against Communist regimes.

The people came to cheer the Church on and to join the congregations.

But, after the liberation from Soviet control and local dictators, the crowds went home and the churches began to look as neglected and as abandoned as they did before.

The crowd in this morning’s Gospel reading is evidently the same group of people who were fed the previous day when Jesus had miraculously fed 5000 people with just five small loaves and two fish.

They’d eaten their fill and perhaps had then ‘dropped off to sleep.’

When, next morning, they wake up they discover that Jesus and his disciples have quietly left.

It is now breakfast time and they want Jesus to feed them again. So, they go searching for Him … even taking any available boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. They weren’t looking for spiritual sustenance they just wanted another free meal.

So, we see that what happened in 19^th century China and then in East Germany and Romania is nothing new – it’s as old as the Gospel itself.

If we look at our community and our world today, we see that either people are desperate for food – hungry each night and hoping for relief, or they have all the food that they can eat with leftovers, and yet, their lives are unfilled or unfulfilled.

Jesus says to the crowd that has followed Him across the sea and He says to us, ‘Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you.’

The word translated as ‘endures’ is a word that is used throughout the Gospel of John to describe the relationship between Jesus and the person who believes.

In the end, this enduring means nothing less than the Father and the Son dwelling in believers through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The ‘bread’ which endures to eternal life is a relationship that is made possible by God becoming a human being and walking this earth and dying for our sins.

In fact, the bread itself … the bread that endures is Jesus Christ Himself, whom the Father gives out of His love for the world – for you and for me – for all who believe.

The crowd don’t understand so ask, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’

Jesus answers, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’

But still, they don’t get it. They miss the important part of what Jesus is saying … ‘Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.’

In other words, you don’t have to work for it – it’s free.

God does the work.

God sent his Son into the world to save the world through Him.

God seeks us out as a shepherd searching for a lost sheep.

God comes and whispers in in our ear, ‘Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’

God is the one who is working on us all our lives, nudging us, loving us and trying to get us to accept his love, his forgiveness, the new life he offers through faith in Christ.

It’s God’s work – not ours.

Sadly, we like the crowd following Jesus often want some kind of tangible sign, some kind of proof. But, new life in Christ comes by faith and that faith is a free gift from God, that ability to believe and God is offering it to us.

John Wesley, a lifetime Anglican but the founder of Methodism used to tell his preachers: ‘Preach it until you believe it.’

We all have doubts. We all go through times of questioning. We all must make the decision as to whether or not we will believe.

What are we making the decision to believe?

That there is love in this world.

That there is hope in this world.

That there is a reason for living.

That all we do is not in vain.

That God loves us, and because of this we can learn to love ourselves, love God and love others.

Jesus is offering Himself for the salvation of our souls.

He is offering us Himself in order to satisfy the hunger, the thirst, the empty void in our life that every single one of us has.

When we don’t fill that empty void with Jesus, we fill it with something else – the pursuit of money, drugs, attention, power … all things that spoil with time.

The only thing that lasts for eternity is JESUS HIMSELF. It is only Jesus offering Himself to us as spiritual food that will fill our deepest needs.

So, like this well-known hymn says:

How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

In a believer’s ear!

It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,

And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole, And calms the troubled breast;

‘Tis manna to the hungry soul,

And to the weary rest. Amen

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in God.

With Christians everywhere, we believe in one God, who made everything.

The Father sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross.

Jesus rose again as Lord of all, that we might live for ever with him.

God sent his Holy Spirit to live in us, that we might grow more like Jesus.

Amen.

Hymn: 297 Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us

Our Intercessions by Helen Dunbar

Lord, we thank you that we can come to you in any situation and on any day, and we thank you especially that we are able to come to you in church, together, as part of your family on earth.

We pray for the Churches here in our diocese and the Christian churches throughout the world, we give thanks for all clergy, for Archbishop Justin and Bishop High, for parish priests who work so hard dealing with the many churches they have to look after. We pray for everyone living in the parish and surrounding area and we give thanks for our much loved and hard-working Revd Diane and not forgetting Ken her husband and also Nigel, who seem to have a full-time job maintaining the church.