Luke 15 - going to the heart of the Gospel

Welcome and Call to worship

645 Come, ye thankful people come

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 65 – the Congregation

^NRS Psalm 65:1 <To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.> Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion; and to you shall vows be performed, ² O you who answer prayer! To you all flesh shall come. ³ When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, you forgive our transgressions. ⁴ Happy are those whom you choose and bring near to live in your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple. ⁵ By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ⁶ By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. ⁷ You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. ⁸ Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. ⁹ You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. ¹⁰ You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. ¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. ¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, ¹³ the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

Lord Jesus Christ

In you we meet the God of Creation

And we are overwhelmed

By the way we have let you down

And abused the precious things of that creation

Grant us your forgiveness

And in the knowledge of your mercy and love for us

May we so care for your creation

That your goodness will once more

Provide a rich harvest

As everything shouts and sings for joy.

Amen

Hymn 646 We plough the fields and scatter

Who’s the feasting for?

Do you have some favourite chapters in the Bible?

A moment to share …

I do.Genesis 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

Exodus 20 and the ten commandments

Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd

Isaiah 40 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people

John 1 In the beginning was the Word

John 14 In my father’s house are many mansions

Romans 8 – nothing can separate us from the love of God

1 Corinthians 13 – love

Revelation 21 – the new heaven and the new earth

Wonderful chapters!

Among the greatest of those chapters for me is Luke 15.  It has been called the Gospel within the Gospel.  It goes to the heart of the good news of jesus Christ, the good news of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s a chapter that includes three of the greatest of Jesus’ parables.

Look at our Good News bible and the headings say it all

The Lost Sheep

The Lost Coin

The Lost Son

Of the hundred sheep one goes missing and that’s the one the shepherd seeks out “I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people, or as the GNB says, 99 respectable people who need no repentance."

Of the ten coins the woman posseses it’s the one that goes missing that she turns the house upside down until she finds it.

“I tell you,” says Jesus, “there is joy n the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

And then there’s the youngest son who squanders everthing on riotous living until he comes to his senses and hesitantly returns home only to find his father rushing out to welcome him home.  “For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!”  No wonder they began to celebrate.

This is the gospel that forgiveness is always there, God’s grace reaches out to the lost.  And as we come to our senses, change our way of thinking, repent so we find the love of the God who is there waiting for us.

Wonderful set of parables.

But wait a moment.

Who chose to give them those titles?

Chapter divisions didn’t come in until 1200 years after the time of Christ.  Verse divisions didn’t come in until 1560 years after the time of Christ.  As for the headings – they weren’t introduced until much, much later.  Interestingly back in the 1960’s the United Bible Societies published a Greek New Testament whose text was based on the latest discoveries – I had one when I was still at school, I now use the fourth edition and a fifth edition has just come out.  It was aimed at the likes of me as a Minsiter and also at people translating the Bible into languages the world over.  That edition had headings which were adopted by the Good News Bible translators and will be found in many, many modern translations the world over that are based on that text.

There is a problem, however.  As soon as you give something a title you see it in those terms.

What would happen if you gave these parables another title.

Maybe the first parable is as much about the Shepherd and his passion to find the lost sheep.  It could be called the Parable of the Good Shepherd.   The last parable is as much about the Father and his patient, never-ending love of his prodigal son – it could be called the waiting Father.

Think of it as the Parable of the Waiting Father and listen to the story once again.

So if you are sitting comfortably, Rachel will begin … but just as far as verse 24 please.  We’ll come back to the rest in a bit.

The Parable of the Waiting Father

Luke 15:11-24

^NRS Luke 15:11 ¶ Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. ¹³ A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. ¹⁴ When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶ He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' ²⁰ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹ Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' ²² But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe-- the best one-- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴ for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

What a wonderful God we believe in.  His love is greater than ever we could imagine as it reaches out to the lost sheep and to the lost son.  It is the wonderful love of a Good Shepherd, the wonderful love of a waiting father.

But there’s a third parable too.

If the God figure in the first parable is the Good Shepherd and the God figure in the third parable is the Waiting Father, who is the God figure in the middle parable?

It is none other than the seeking woman.

How does that make you feel.  That God is likened to a woman?  It is a strand that’s there in the Bible.  Back in Isaiah 66:13  we read …

For thus says the Lord:

As a mother comforts her child

So I will comfort you;

You shall be comforted in Jerusalem.

Job asks in 38:29 From whose womb did the ice come forth?  And who has given birth to the hoar frost of heaven?

Maybe most significantly of all as we arrive at Luke 15 and the Parable of the Seeking Woman, is the intense compassion that at the end of Luke 13 Jesus expresses in his remarkable lament over Jerusalem.  There he sees himself as a mother hen.:  “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing …”

The next moment we find Jesus in chapter 15 going to the very heart of the Gospel, in this Gospel within the Gospel where we are invited to think of God in the immensity of his and maybe the immensity of her love as the Good Shepherd, the Seeking Woman and the Waiting Father.

There is more to this chapter still.

It makes a difference reading a book a book, as we are doing in our reading of Luke’s Gospel on Sunday evenings.

At the moment Jesus is on a journey, the journey to Jerusalem that began at Luke 9:51 as he set his face to go to Jerusalem and will end at Luke 19:28 with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  On the journey he tells stories, the great story parables are found for the most part in these ten chapters of Luke.  And he also stops off from time to time for a meal.

Indeed, the whole of chapter 14 has been about feasting: how important it is to sit in a lowly place and not to go for the top table, how important it is to be welcome all to the banquet – not least the least of all.  The point is pressed home if you don’t notice it first time in Luke 14:13 where Jesus says, when you give a banquet invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, he goes on to tell the story of the Great Banquet as the owner of the house is angry at those who couldn’t be bothered to accept his invitation and sends his slave out “into the streets and and lanes of the town to bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.”

This after all is the heart of the Gospel of Christ.  It’s what it’s all about.  It’s how his ministry began in that synagogue in Nazareth back in Luke 4 when Jesus read from Isaiah 61 so movingly …

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me

Because he has anointed me

To bring good news to the poor

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind

To let the oppressed go free

To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

This is the nub of the matter as far as Luke is concerned.

This is what it’s all about.

Jesus was adamant as he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down to teach …

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

The gospel for all and not just for our lot!

The banquet for everyone, the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind.

 the crippled, the lame and the blind.

Look carefully how Luke 15 begins.

Jesus is as good as his word.  He practises what he preaches.

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to listen to him.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!”

It was in response to that grumbling that Jesus told these parables.

Notice verse three and especially the first word …

So he told them this parable.

Look again at the Parable of the Lost Sheep, at the Parable of the Good Shepherd.

Notice what the shepherd does when he comes home: he calls his friends and neighbours saying to them, Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep that was lost.

He has a party!

That’s what it’s like in heaven – Just so, I tell you

  Three will be more joy n heaven over one sinner who repents …

This is the banquet – that’s welcoming to the one that’s lost.

What does the woman do when she has found the coin that was lost?

She calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me for I have found the coin that I had lost.”

And what of the Parable of the Lost Son, the Prodigal Son or the Waiting Fahter.

It’s even more pronounced.

What does the Father do?

The father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!  And they began to celebrate.

Can you see these are three parables of the Banquet … following hard on the heels of the two earlier parables of Banquets in chapter 14.

They are one in the eye for those ultra religious people who tut tutted when Jesus spent his time eating with the wrong kind of people, with the tax collectors and sinners.

For this is what the kingdom of God is like.

There’s one final twist in the tale of the Prodigal Son.  For there is another son.  He has been faithful all along.  He’s one of the respectable ones.  Will he join in?  Or will he grumble and be discontented.

The great thing about the way Jesus tells stories is that he doesn’t actually tell us the end of the story.  He leaves us to decide what happens for ourselves.

Where do you see yourself in these stories – are you like the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son …and wonderful to know the extent of God’s love and the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you challenged to be like the good shepherd, the seeking woman and the waiting Father and to seek out the lost – make that the priority.

Or are you with the Pharisees and the scribes who were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Do you see a little bit of yourself in the elder brother.

If you do, then listen to this final part of the story: see yourself in the elder brother … and then ask yourself.  So how am I going to finish off the story – will I go in and join the party, or will I just go on grumbling and stay outside?

Luke 15:25-32

^NRS Luke 15:25 ¶ "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. ²⁷ He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' ²⁸ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' ³¹ Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

Luke 14 Feasting in the Kingdom

Sunday evening

An invitation –

399 Come, risen Lord, as guest among your own

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Reading: Isaiah 55: 1-13

Psalm 23 – STL 78

Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Thank you that this night

You invite us to come

Into your presence

And find that peace you alone can give.

Help us to take that peace with us

Into all that lies ahead

Sure that we will dwell

In the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

408 I come with joy to meet my Lord

Have you been yet?

You really ought to go.

Dick and I called in on the way back from Longney just after the first one opened.

I could have called in on my way to Longney today … but I didn’t!

When Felicity and I were setting off for Devon we had had a really busy day, ending up with a swimming lesson for Lake and we called in and it was really lovely.

We called in again and the grass has grown … and it really is looking beautiful!

What am I talking of?

The new Gloucester Motorway Services.

Well worth a visit!

It’s the third occasion I’ve been on a day out to a Motorway service station.

When the country’s very first Motorway opened in            the first to walk on the motorway was our Gwen                who worked for John Laing the construction company, the first motorway service station was at Leicester Forest East and we would go out there for a day out.

And then when the Severn Bridge was opened we went to the service station to get a wonderful view.

By now we just take them for granted … and know our favourite ones.

When you are on a journey you need to stop for a break and you need to stop for a meal.

Jesus is on a journey.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem” we read in Luke 9:51 and from there all the way through to Luke 19:27 Luke reminds us that Jesus is on the way, he’s on his journey to Jerusalem.

And what do you do when you are on a journey?

You stop off for a meal and have something to eat.

As Luke 14 opens we read that Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the Sabbath.  People were watching him closely.  Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy.  The GNB says it was someone whose legs and arms were swollen.  The point was it was a chronic illness, you might say, no rush to do anything.  But Jesus wasn’t like that.  So Jesus put a question to the experts in the law of the Jewish people and the Pharisees: “Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath or not?”  They were silent.  So, what did Jesus do?

So Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away.

No mater the day, you help those in need before you.  No questions.  No ifs not buts.  “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?”  And they could not reply to this.

It was an important person.  An important meal.  Bit of a banquet really.

And Jesus noticed something.

He noticed how the guests chose the places of honour.

That was something to think about in Jesus’ book.

So he told them a parable.

⁸‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; ⁹and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place”, and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. ¹¹For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

He actually pressed the point home.

He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. ¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. ¹⁴And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’

There is a welcome to all … an inclusiveness.

It’s not just our people, it’s all people.

Shapes the way we think, the things we do.

You get talking at a big dinner don’t you.

So one of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him,

“Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

That’s a wonderful thought isn’t it.

It’s broadening it out now.

There’s a longing for a heavenly banquet.

When you think 23^rd Psalm do you think automatically still waters, green pastures?  It moves on to a wonderful feast – sitting down at the table.  Thou prepares a table before me – you make me, even me imporatant as my had is anointed.  My cup floweth over.

Wonderful moment.

The banquet is a wonderful image of being with God.

When we share around the Table of our Lord in the Lord’s Supper we often feel as if we are re-enacting the last Supper Jesus shared with his disciples.  We use the words he used on that occasion.

Maybe we should look further back and have in mind the way Jesus had meals with all and sundry – and make sure the doors are wide open to welcome all in the name of Jesus.

Maybe we should be looking forward in anticipation of that heavenly banquet.

So who will come in?

This is one of those great story parables.

We used to sing it a lot back in the day with a rollicking chorus …

How it presses home the welcome …

Reading:  Luke 14:15-23 – read by …

One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ ¹⁶Then Jesus said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. ¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” ¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” ¹⁹Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” ²⁰Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” ²¹So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” ²²And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” ²³Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” ’

It has been said that the message Jesus has to share makes the comfortable feel uncomfortable, and it brings real deep down comfort to those in need.

I cannot help but feel a bit uncomfortable at these words.

Are we welcoming to all?

How do we best do that?

Do we think of ourselves as the religious in-crowd?  But what about the out-crowd?

It gets more challenging.

Then Jesus speaks of the cost of discipleship.

And ups the ante even more.

Following Jesus involves

Putting Jesus first – even above family

It involves taking up the cross.

It involves putting working out how you are going to follow him and planning accordingly

It involves putting Jesus before all those possessions we treasure so much.

He calls us to be salt – and not to let the saltiness lose its flavour.

Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

About Salt

34 ‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? ³⁵It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

These are powerful words.

Uncomfortable words.

Let anyone with ears to hear, listen!

STL 55 Praise to God

Prayers of Concern

Offering and Dedication

The table is prepared

364 Jesus, stand among us – a hymn Dick mentioned when I visited him last week

The Lord’s Supper

Communion collection for Mary’s meals

580 From all who live beneath the skies

Words of Blessing

From east and west, from north and south

Good to be back after a four month sabbatical!

Welcome and Call to Worship

Hymn: Immortal, invisible, God only wise

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Genesis 12:1-9

The call of Abraham, the promise of blessing –

in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lordappeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb.

Psalm 118

Verse and  Response

O give thanks to the Lord for he is good

his steadfast love endures for ever

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
Let the house of Aaron say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
Let those who fear the Lord say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’ 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
   the Lord answered me and set me free;.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
   What can anyone do to me?

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord. 

This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us

that wholeness and peace you alone can give!

 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God, I will extol you. 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever! 

Thank you, Lord Jesus,

That you are with us at all times,

That you hear our prayer no matter what we may face

That you set us free from darkness

And draw us into your glorious light.

Grant us, we pray, that peace the world cannot give

That we may live in the light of your love

From this day forward

And forevermore.

Amen.

A great big thank you to everyone at church from Felicity and me for making our sabbatical possible.  I’d been reluctant to have a Sabbatical but I am persuaded.  I feel as if I have cleared the cobwebs and done really important things with family and the project I have been doing.  And the church has had to do things differently and in new ways which we all hope we can now build on … and not just go back to what we did before!

I’ve spent the last four months immersed in the world of the Bible.  And it’s the world we live in.

I passionately believe that it’s through the words of the Bible that God speaks his word to us and shapes the way we lead our lives.  Sometimes we just need a word of comfort, sometimes we need a word of challenge.

What we don’t need is an expert to tell us what to think.  Maybe we all of us need to be prepared to listen to each other, to explore things together and take seek through all the words we read and the words we share that Word of God we need to hear.

It is not what I say that counts

But what each of us hears in God’s Word and then what each of us does in response – that’s what matters.

What we are going to do in a moment is what happened each Sunday in the late afternoon service at the church of the pilgrims in Leiden from 1608 through to 1620 when the pilgrims set sail on a journey that was later to take them on the Mayflower to New England.

Before we share in doing what they did we are going to sing the hymn that is based on the parting words of Pastor John Robinson to those pilgrims at the last service they shared in Leiden.

He invited them always to have an expectation that through the words of the Bible they would hear God’s word for them … and that they should always be prepared for some new light to shine from the Scriptures.  It is that hymn that almost more than any other captures that sense of expectation that God will speak from his word to each of us in our hearts as we read and as we share.

For some reason Congregational Praise omits the second verse of the hymn which is wonderful as it invites us to journey adventurously into the future whatever that future may hold for us.

There is a mistake in punctuation in verse 3 – the apostrophe is omitted.  Put the apostrophe back into ‘valley’s’   We’ve come through the valley – we are soaring to the mountain top and beyond

For the Lord hath yet more light and trutgh to break forth from His word.

We limit not the truth of God
  To our poor reach of mind,
By notions of our day and sect,
  Crude, partial and confined.
Now let a new and better hope
  Within our hearts be stirred:
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
  To break forth from His Word.

2

Who dares to bind by his dull sense
  The oracles of heaven,
For all the nations, tongues and climes
  And all the ages given!
The universe how much unknown!
  That ocean unexplored!
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
  To break forth from His Word.

3

Darkling our great forefathers went
  The first steps of the way;
’Twas but the dawning yet to grow
  Into the perfect day;
And grow it shall, our glorious Sun
  More fervid rays afford:
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
  To break forth from His Word.

4

The valley’s past, ascending still,
  Our souls would higher climb,
And look down from supernal heights,
  On all the bygone times;
Upward we press, the air is clear,
  And the sphere-music heard!
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
  To break forth from His Word.

5

O Father, Son and Spirit, send
  Us increase from above;
Enlarge, expand all Christian hearts
  To comprehend Thy love;
And make us all go on to know
  With nobler powers conferred:
The Lord hath yet more light and truth
  To break forth from His Word.

So … over to you – think of this last week – it may be at work, it may be stuff in your own lives, it may be the stuff that’s going on in the news at the moment.

We have arrived at Luke 13 – I invite you to turn to that chapter in the church Bibles.  In a moment we are going to focus on Luke 13:18-30.  In this passage is God saying something to you?  Is there something that’s going on in your life at the moment that this passage speaks to?  Is three something going on in the world around us, on the news that this passage is speaking to?

If this is the moment when you go all cold and cannot think of anything at all, let alone anything to say … then that’s the point you will be just like me.

That’s the great thing about sharing and coming together in church – it may be that something that’s struck someone else is just what we need to hear.

If you want to, just have the conversation with someone near you – and share anything that’s come to mind.

But first, let’s just pray.

Gracious loving God open our minds to the Word you have for us in the words of Scripture this day and open our hearts that we may act on what we hear.

Luke 13:18-30

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

18 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

The Parable of the Yeast

20 And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God?²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

The Narrow Door

22 Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone asked him, ‘Lord, will only a few be saved?’ He said to them, ²⁴‘Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Lord, open to us”, then in reply he will say to you, “I do not know where you come from.” ²⁶Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.” ²⁷But he will say, “I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!” ²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. ³⁰Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.’

A time to share

And now let me share what struck me as I read this passage.

First, I found in it great encouragement.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

18 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

The importance of small things.

Our God is a great big God, but he also the God of small things.

I did have an exciting time on my project The World of the New Testament on our doorstep – reading the New Testament in Roman Britain.  I had been trying to meet up with Philip Esler from the University to discuss my project but our diaries hadn’t worked out.  I managed to meet him on 30^th April just before my sabbatical was due to start on 1^st May.

He was very encouraging and ended up inviting me to read a paper to an international conference he was hosting at the end of June – it was great to have a deadline to work to.  And a wonderful experience.

I had been going to write something very general.  But he suggested that I should find something in small detail to look at … I did … and you can find out more at Explore in Tuesday evening or after our lunch on Wednesday.

What he said was very significant. 

God is in the detail.

There is so much to be done … it’s daunting.  In church.  In our own lives.  IN response to the news we hear.

But the small thing we do matters.

Sometimes we are disheartened that what we do is insignificant.

More than that we feel church is insignificant.

It has been great to share in worship at … churches over the last four months.  But the other thing that’s been very apparent is that we have also been out and about on Sundays seeing just how few there are at church and how many who have no time for anything of what we stand for.

This is encouragement indeed.

We must stick to it.

The Parable of the Yeast

20 And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God?²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

Then comes a very thought-provoking and mind-stretching passage.

One of those hard sayings of Jesus.

Actually the way Christ opens up for us is a narrow way.  And it’s a narrow door.

What comes across to me in these words is the  surprise in store for us.  There’s a wideness in God’s mercy that will surprise us.

God forbid we should ever think ourselves holier than everyone else.

There are choices to make.  Are we for Christ and his way or not?  Choices we need to make that make a world of difference.

My eye fell on that verse 29.

Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of ~God.  Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

One Sunday on our holiday in Fairboune we did something we had not done before.  In the morning we worshipped in a Welsh church in Dolgellau and learned how much we must value the warmth of welcome we seek to give at Highbury.  In the afternoon Felicity read on the beach at Barmouth while I took my body board into the sea for a dip!  With surf almost coming up to my knees I did almost as well as the 10 year olds further down the beach who were the only other ones with my kind of body board.

In the evening we joined the local parish church in Fairbourne who were hosting a male voice choir.  But we squeezed in Songs of Praise from Calais.  It caused quite a stir.  Strange really, because a fortnight before, an even more controversial Songs of Praise was aired that didn’t cause a ripple.

In fact few would have spotted its significance.

A hymn was sung that was inspired by this verse from Luke 13.

We are going to sing it in a moment or two.  It’s another hymn that comes out of our Congregational churches.  In 1908 the London Missionary Society held a pageant in the Agricultural hall, London.  John Dunkerley had grown up in Chorlton Road Congregational Church, Manchester, and had become a deacon at Ealing Congregational Church where he led a Bible class.

The hymn he contributed on that occasion was a riposte to another ballad popular in that Edwardian period that had been penned by Rudyard Kipling in the context of Britain’s wars in Afghanistan

East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet.

John Dunkerley wrote under the pen name, John Oxenham.  He had caught something of the drift of another couple of lines in Kipling’s ballad, and then filled that out with a very different view of the world.

It is this hymn that captures the all-embracing welcome of the kingdom of God and challenges us all at this time too.

In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.

2 In Christ shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find;
his service is the golden cord
close-binding humankind.

3 Join hands, then, brothers of the faith,
whate'er your race may be.
All children of the living God
are surely kin to me.

4 In Christ now meet both east and west;
in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are one in him
throughout the whole wide earth.

As we sing those words let’s think of that church in Calais, and reflect on the response we make in maybe the smallest of actions, or in making our voice heard in shaping the response of our country to this unprecedented refugee crisis.

Hymn 346 In Christ there is no east or west

Prayers of Concern

Offering and Dedication

253 City of God, how broad and far

Words of Blessing