St Clement Church Community Sunday Service
Good morning to you all as we celebrate our service of the 2nd Sunday of Lent, and yes, my chocolate withdrawal symptoms are beginning to kick in…….. We will be commemorating the day with a Eucharist service in Church, this Service of the Word is in case you are unable to worship with us in person. May Christ’s love sustain you always.
Much love to you all,
Rev Di and family xx
Let us pray;
Almighty God, by the prayer and discipline of Lent may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings, and by following in his Way come to share in his glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn; ‘I Danced in the Morning’
Our prayers of Penitence
We hear the commandments which God has given to his people, and examine our hearts.
I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other gods but me…
You shall not make for yourself any idol…
You shall not dishonour the name of the Lord your God…
Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy…
Honour your father and mother…
You shall not commit murder…
You shall not commit adultery…
You shall not steal…
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour…
You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour…
Lord have mercy upon us and write all these your laws in our hearts
Amen.
In a moment of quiet reflection, we think of the times we have failed to keep God’s commandments and say together;
May almighty God, who sent his Son into the world to save sinners, bring us his pardon and peace, now and for ever. Amen.
Let us pray our Collect for today
Almighty God, by the prayer and discipline of Lent may we enter into the mystery of Christ’s sufferings, and by following in his Way come to share in his glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Old Testament Reading: Genesis. 17. 1-7, 15-16
New Testament Reading: Romans 4. 13 - end
Gradual Hymn; ‘Praise to the Lord…’
Gospel: Mark 8. 31- end
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
Then Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
He said all this quite openly.
And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’
(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Response: ‘Praise to you, O, Christ’)
Reflection
The expression, ‘The Elephant in the Room’ has become something of a common cliché today, but before we write the expression off, let’s remember that profound wisdom is often to be found in common clichés. This simple expression; ‘The Elephant in the Room’ addresses our human tendency to avoid the obvious. That there are some realities so painful and difficult we’ll go to great lengths to deny them.
Jesus is an expert at naming; ‘The Elephant in the Room.’ In our Gospel reading for today, the second Sunday in Lent, Jesus is no longer in the wilderness, but he’s being tempted nonetheless. This time Peter, one of his own followers, is the tempter, encouraging Jesus to take the easy way out.
In the early part of his Gospel Mark portrays all that Jesus did to reveal his purpose for coming into the world, leading up to the critical moment when Jesus asked his followers if they understood who he was.
After most of the disciples had acted as if they didn’t understand the question, Peter blurted out: ‘You are the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.’
Jesus then decided it was time to explain what would happen when he challenged the great powers of their time, the religious establishment and the Roman governmental authority. He spoke of confrontation, resistance, crucifixion and death, but this wasn’t what the disciples wanted to hear, and Peter’s response was immediate: No, no, Jesus, no suffering and death, what are you thinking? You’re the Messiah, the promised deliverer of God’s people, Israel!
The elephant can be large and grey and fill the room, but if we don’t want to see it, we won’t, so it was with the disciples. They liked the crowds, they liked the healings, they liked the warm welcomes, the free meals, and the traveling. They liked the words of liberation and hope, so they had no desire to hear predictions of conflict, humiliation, and death.
We all have things we like to hear and things we don’t, and Lent is a time when we are challenged to face what it means to be a disciple,
to follow Jesus in the world today. For this reason, the Lenten season encourages us to face our elephants, the truths that we would prefer to avoid.
We rightly shudder when we hear Jesus address those harsh words to Peter: ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ But our Lord wants his followers to understand the hard truth, he wants to prepare them for the future and Peter’s bravado is clearly not helpful.
We live in a society where so much in human culture is designed to make folk think that the only things that matter, the only things that will bring peace, security, and happiness, are looking out for themselves and gratifying their immediate desires.
Certainly there are legions of lovely things to buy and enjoy, but none of these commodities has the power to make people feel complete, or more adequate, or more acceptable, or more loved. Such items though can’t deliver the promises they make, the only thing that does is a connection to others, and the community such connections create.
At a critical point in our Gospel lesson Jesus called his hearers to follow him. In fact, on more than twenty occasions in the four Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry he asked the people, individually or in groups, to leave what they were doing and follow him.
This question; ‘who is willing to follow Jesus Christ?’ is the defining question for Christian people today. In a way it’s the ultimate; ‘Elephant in the Room.’
One of the most powerful statements in our Gospel lesson is Jesus’ challenge: ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.’
When I hear those words I must acknowledge that ‘deny yourselves’ has always been a difficult concept for me and, I expect, for most well-meaning Christians. Some form of denial, of course, has been popular during the Lenten season. (Chocolate…) Most Christians have tried, at one time or another, to give something up for Lent. But a true Lenten denial would be to give up personal obsessions and desires that cause separation from others, activities that cause estrangement from Christian community. Jesus’ charge though isn’t a demand to deny some substance (Chocolate…..) or casual practice, but rather it’s our Lord’s invitation to imagine living a life of concern for others, a life of true compassion for the suffering, a life of giving to those in need.
This is what I hope we learn from our Gospel lesson for today. Every time we respond to the needs of those around us, every time we seek not what we want but what the world needs, we get a little closer to what Jesus was talking about when he spoke of; ‘taking up our cross and following him.’
As we move deeper into the Lenten season, it’s my hope and prayer that we’ll take seriously that call and order the priorities of our lives.
I also pray that the Holy Spirit will give us the strength to face the elephants in our rooms, all those entanglements that keep us from living our destiny as children of the Living God.
I end with the prayer of St Francis, so wonderfully painted by Karen in our church building:
‘Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Hymn; ‘Jesu, lover of my Soul’
Affirmation of our faith
Let us declare our faith in God.
We believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist.
We believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again.
We believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world.
This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith.
We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Our Intercessions are written by Liz Davies
Loving God, as you revealed yourself to Abram in ancient days, reveal yourself to us in this present age. Make us into a faithful people ready to believe your promises and follow you wherever you will lead us.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Holy God, during this period of Lent, give us a new awareness of your presence in our church here at St Clement. Teach us the humility to accept that all our gifts come from you to be used in the service of your people and in the spreading of your Gospel. We give you thanks for our church community, for our neighbours, our friends and for all the people we meet in our daily lives. We particularly remember and ask your blessing on our friends at Feock Church – be with them at this difficult time. May we always be aware of the needs of those around us and do all we can to help, so being good neighbours and true friends.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Creator God, your Son walked upon earth and taught us to see your hand in the beauty and wonders of earth, sea, and sky. We are so fortunate to live here in Cornwall but, even here, we so often see evidence of poor stewardship in our surroundings and it is easy to forget that the world belongs to you. Help us to recognise your presence in our modern world, and help us to be good stewards of all your creation and to use more wisely the resources of the earth.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Merciful God, as we look around your world, there is much anger, violence, intolerance, and injustice. We see the fighting in Ukraine, in Gaza and Israel, the unrest in the Middle East and uprisings in other parts of the world. We pray for peace, a lasting peace, where all people, no matter who they are, may live freely, safely and in mutual harmony.
Lord, hear us: Lord, graciously hear us
Gracious God, we pray for all who are suffering in body, mind, or spirit; for those who are homeless, hungry, in despair or lonely. We pray that they may all feel your loving kindness and know that, no matter what they may have to face, they are never alone. We especially remember today: Ken and Reverend Diane, May, Susan, Lauren, Lynda, Angela, Terry and Dot, Margaret, Maureen, Alison and Rob, Rupert and Linda, Barrie and Sandra, Pam and David, Jan, Anita and Stephen, Jeremy,
Michael and Patricia, Stella, Alison, Linda, William, Callum and Elaine, Jay, Andy, those dear to us and those who have no one to pray for them.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Almighty God, be near to all those who are grieving the loss of loved ones. We remember all those whose journey on this earth has ended. Please welcome them into the peace and light of your eternal kingdom.
Lord, in your mercy: hear our prayer
Faithful God, as we leave this church today, help us to remember that your Son was tempted by the devil but chose faithfulness before popularity, service before fame, and sacrifice before power. Give us the strength to reject temptation through our Lenten journey, and beyond it, through the rest of our lives.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Gathering our prayers and praises into one, let us pray with confidence as Jesus taught us;
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.
Hymn; ‘Ye Servants of God’
The Peace
‘Where two or three are gathered together in my name’ says the Lord,
‘I am there among them’
May the peace of God be always with us. Amen.
Blessing
May Christ give us grace to grow in holiness, to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow him; and may the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us, those whom we love, and remain with us always. Amen.