Sunday Worship 16th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish as we celebrate the Feast of St Hugh at the Worship Centre in St Hugh's School. There are no services at St Agnes' or St Thomas' Churches today.

If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.

Our first hymn this morning is "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God"

Today's Gospel

Mark 13: 32-37           The Necessity for Watchfulness

 “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.  Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. 

It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 

Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Reflection

Today is the Feast Day of St. Hugh of Lincoln and many of us will be celebrating at a joint parish service at St. Hugh’s church which is located in the school in Holts Village.

It is a joyful occasion where the school and village community join together with members of the other churches in our parish to celebrate this special anniversary.

St Hugh was actually born in Avalon, France in the 12th century and following the death of his father in 1165, he joined the religious Carthusian order in Grenoble where he was ordained priest 5 years later. He spent most of his early adult life in prayer and meditation and had a reputation for piety and holiness. 

He was widely extolled for his many virtues of patience, courtesy, courage, gentleness. It was said that everyone treated him as a neighbour, as an old friend or as a brother. He loved the whole human race like himself and his abundant charity cherishes all men. 

Word of his devoutness reached King Henry II in England and he was asked to form the first Carthusian monastery in England. Although a great honour, it was far from Hugh’s preferred choice of role, as he much preferred the life of prayer and dedication to God. However, under pressure from the king and the Bishop of Grenoble he was compelled to accept the role. Despite his reputation for gentleness he was not afraid to speak the truth to leaders such as the King and senior religious leaders in the country, and he persuaded the King to spend large amounts of money on the church and the poor.

He was consecrated as Bishop of Lincoln on 21st September 1186 in Westminster Cathedral, where, despite his position of power, he remained dedicated and devout and lived a humble basic lifestyle. His reputation grew as a champion of the poor and needy. 

St Hugh worked tirelessly for the welfare of his people of Lincoln and surrounding areas. He was passionate about helping the poor and marginalised people in society and firmly committed to improving everyone’s spiritual well-being as well as their material needs. He was so committed to helping the poor that he often used his own resources to improve their lives.

St. Hugh was also recognised for his interventions to prevent the persecution of the Jewish people who were numerous in and around Lincoln. Attacks on them had been frequent and violent but St. Hugh spoke up for them and was not afraid to challenge the leaders of those who perpetrated the oppression.

The Gospel reading above is often associated with St. Hugh because of his life of  devotion to God. It reminds us of his unremitting service of prayer and dedication and his personal example of how we should offer our lives to God and to the service of others. 

It is an example to us of how we should all set time aside to spend with God in prayer and reflection and how we should live our lives as Hugh did, following the way of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes we might well intend to be more virtuous but we don’t get around to it. And sometimes we don’t speak up for others when we know that we should. We all need to be watchful and alert to the needs of one another and not be complacent lest we get caught out.

Paul

Our Prayers

Holy God , who endowed your servant St. Hugh

with wise and cheerful boldness, and taught him 

to commend the discipline of holy life to kings and princes.

Grant that we also, rejoicing in the Good News of your mercy,

and fearing nothing but the loss of you,

may be bold to speak the truth in love, in the name of Jesus Christ

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

  Amen

Today's final hymn is "All My Hope on God is Founded"

Notices

From next Sunday, the 23rd November, the Sunday Services at St Thomas’ will be at the new time of 11.15 am. This is because Revd Kirsten will be covering services on rotation between all 3 churches, so she will need time to travel in between, and also to get to know the congregations better. St Agnes’ Sunday Services will remain at 9.15 am.

It was wonderful to welcome Revd Kirsten to our parishes last Sunday, and we are all very much looking forward to her ministry.

Sunday Worship 9th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Third Sunday before Advent, also Remembrance Sunday. Today we have only one service in the parish, a Parish Eucharist at 9.15 am at St Thomas' Church.

Following the service, we will meet with other churches from the area and the Royal British Legion at 10.10 am outside Lees Library to process to the War Memorial in Lees Cemetery for the Act of Remembrance at 10.30 am.

If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.

Our first hymn this morning is "Great is Thy Faithfulness"

Today's Gospel

Luke 20: 27 - 38           The Resurrection and Marriage

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."

Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.".

Reflection

I have to admit – this reading is far from straight forward.  

The Sadducees were trying to catch Jesus out by referencing God’s law from Deuteronomy 25 which is attributed to Moses. The Old Testament law requires a man to marry his brother’s widow to produce offspring, and they used it to set the stage to discuss a complicated scenario surrounding resurrection and so discredit the concept of an afterlife which they vehemently did not believe in.

To make things simpler, the Sadducees could have made exactly the same point by just referring to a situation with one brother, but they were so devious they added extra layers of complexity to try to make themselves look clever. I would argue they did exactly the opposite – by being so convoluted they probably lost half the people they were trying to show off to.

Because the Sadducees thought the whole idea of resurrection was just a silly concept they never thought to consider what the afterlife might be like. Their hypothesis is based entirely on our human life, existence and laws as a frame of reference. They had never entertained the idea that heaven is entirely different our day to day experience here on earth as we know it.

Jesus’s rebuttal is simple and direct – in as many words he is saying, “ Who ever said that marriage will exist as part of life in a post-resurrection existence? Why would we even need marriage in God’s new Kingdom, where everything will be refreshed and made new again.”

Of course this opens up a whole realm of technological debates about what heaven is like and what will the after-life be like?  It’s certainly not a question that we can address in a short reflection, and I would not consider myself remotely able to give a firm view.   In reality the only person that could answer it, stunned the crowd and Sadducees into silence – in the verse that follows today’s passage it says; “And no one dared to ask him any more questions.” What a shame, wouldn’t it have been great if someone had asked, ‘What is heaven like?’ 

But it does give us pause to think what our own ideas might be. I don’t think many of us picture heaven as a place with angels sitting on fluffy white clouds playing a harp; to be honest I don’t really know where that image came from, perhaps a TV advert from many years ago? 

There is plenty of reference throughout the bible about the idea of a ‘new earth’, such as Rev. 21:1, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away “.  Some scholars suggest that this infers God will totally refresh the world as we know it. The brokenness, violence and sin that exists in our world will be totally refreshed and made anew in a perfect way that will never be tarnished again by sin. 

But what that will look like is for God alone to know. If we try to speculate based on our current experience then we are making the same mistake as the Sadducees did. 

However, the good news is that the promise of resurrection is a reality and Jesus is the living proof. 

The promise of the world to come, God’s kingdom where He is with us is also reality whatever that may look like, because Jesus the Son of Man tells us it is. When we turn to Jesus he promises, “we cannot die anymore, because we are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection."   

Now that is something to look forward to, even if we can’t yet understand what it might look like.

Paul

Our Prayers

Almighty and everlasting Father,

We thank you for the promise of your kingdom to come.

We look forward to the time, when

You will wipe every tear from our eyes. 

Death will be no more; mourning and 

crying and pain will be no more,

for the first things have passed away.’  

Amen

Today's final hymn is "O God, Our Help in Ages Past"

Notices

This afternoon at 3 pm at St John's Church, Hey, we have a Welcome Eucharist Service for our new Curate in Charge, Revd Kirsten Stott. All are most welcome to join us for the service and refreshments, but if you are not able to be with us, please offer your prayers for Revd Kirsten and both parishes at this joyful time.

Next Sunday, the congregations from both our churches will be joining pupils, families and staff from St Hugh's School for our annual St Hugh's Day Service, and there will be no other services in the parish on that day. 

 

Sunday Worship 2nd November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday before Advent, when we also celebrate All Saints Day.

Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.00 at St Thomas'. We also have a special service for All Souls at 3 pm at St Thomas' Church, where we light candles and pray for our departed loved ones by name.

If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.

Our first hymn this morning is "As we are Gathered, Jesus is Here"

Today's Gospel

Luke 19:1-10               Jesus and Zacchaeus

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 

All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."

Reflection

This weeks reflection arguably raises more questions than answers. Before we get into that, I’ll start with one of my own. Have you ever wanted something quite badly but can’t put your finger on exactly what it is? Maybe you fancy something different or special for tea and you don’t know what it is until hopefully you see it. 

Let’s look at Zacchaeus; he was definitely looking for someone – he was looking for Jesus. But why was he looking for Jesus?

 

Luke tells us that he was a chief tax-collector and he was rich.

No doubt from cheating the Jews and the Romans. Indeed Zacchaeus half admits this when he later says, “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Being a chief tax collector, it is reasonable to presume that he was probably middle aged. In my mind's eye, I picture him as quite portly or stout in stature from having a good standard of living and we are told that he was also short. 

Zacchaeus is driven for some unknown reason to want to see Jesus as he passed. There is however no suggestion that he actually wanted to meet him face to face. However he was struggling to be able to see Jesus go by because he was too short to see over the crowds and in all likelihood, they may have deliberately prevented him from getting to the front because everyone hated crooked tax-collectors.

In his urge to see Jesus pass by, he decides to run ahead and climb a tree. The sight of this would most probably have been comical - watching a portly, short man running and climbing trees. Moreover, it would have been totally undignified and against the social etiquette of that period in time.

This brings us to some more questions; what did Zacchaeus expect to happen when he had climbed the tree? Did he expect Jesus to see him? Did he expect anyone in the crowd to see him? What did he think would happen as Jesus passed by? We don’t know but clearly he was consumed in his mission to see Jesus at all costs.

I believe the Holy Spirit was deep at work in this poor sinful man. It was the Holy Spirit that was  transforming him. Deep down Zacchaeus knew he was a sinner and he may have wanted to change who he was for a long time. He needed that push to answer that nagging feeling deep within him – He needed to listen to his inner voice and guided by the Spirit he was compelled to seek out the one who could help. Jesus was able to open his heart and his mind to transform and release him from his sinful ways and  Zacchaeus see what he has to do to receive salvation.

Jesus has opened his heart and mind and for me, this is as significant as the miracle when Jesus cured the blind man and enables him to see again in the previous chapter Luke 18:42.

Jesus has opened Zacchaeus’ eyes as well. 

Perhaps if there is a time when we get a nigging itch or feel there is something missing in our lives, or something that we feel needs to change but don’t know what it is - then that is the time for us climb a metaphorical tree and seek the answers we need. 

Find a space and look for Jesus in prayer and ask him for guidance – let Jesus be the one to look at you, call you by name and invite himself to stay in your house today. Because Jesus is also looking for you, ‘for the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’

I close with some words from Psalm 32:Verses 1 & 6 

Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!

I said," I will confess my transgressions to the Lord."  Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.                                                                                                                                    Paul

Our Prayers

Loving Father,

Help us to understand when you

are nudging us to change direction.

Open our minds to listen to your call,

and our hearts to receive your message.

And give us the courage to respond to your will.

In Jesus name we pray.

Amen

Today's  final hymn is "For all the Saints"

Notices

Next Sunday the 9th November is Remembrance Sunday, and there will be a short, said Parish Eucharist at 9.15 am at St Thomas’, with no service at St Agnes’. We will then assemble outside Lees Library at 10.10 am to process to Lees Cemetery for the joint service of remembrance. 

Also next Sunday, the Welcome Eucharist with Bishop Mark for our new Curate in Charge, Revd Kirsten Stott, will be held at 3 pm at St John’s Church, Hey.