Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on Palm Sunday. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
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 "Meekness and Majesty"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 21:1-11 Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.'
And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
"Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven! "
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
Reflection
A brief reflection this week, because at the beginning of Holy week there is so much to consider and reflect on as we move from Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem to his sacrificial death on the cross.
I have recently been looking at the topic of leadership and in particular leadership in the church, and that gave me a different perspective on the first Gospel reading for Palm Sunday.
It made me think about the preparations we have to do each and every Sunday to get ready for our Sunday worship. Of course most people don’t see or realise what has to be done because, hopefully, by the time the congregation arrives everything is in place to make things run as smoothly as possible.
But consider a few things that people who volunteer each week do. There is putting the hymn numbers up on the board, (or if we are in the Community Room, printing them out everyone including the vicar). But long before that, someone has to look at the readings for the day and decide which hymns are most appropriate and then someone who is a bit tech savvy has to load them up to a media player.
There are seats to be put out and cleaned and carpets to be hoovered, the ladies who come early and make sure the kettles are filled and there is fresh milk in the fridge. And most importantly, as we are the Church of England, there has to be a generous supply of cake and biscuits.
Add to that someone has to come in a few hours before the service and ensure the heating has been turned on. Then someone has to prepare the altar just before the service and set up the bread and wine for communion, (because no one likes to receive soggy communion wafers that have been on the altar since the day before).
There are so many other things which need attending to, not least your vicar spending many hours reading, praying and asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit as they prepare the sermon.
I am not saying this to make anyone feel guilty, however when we look at the beginning of the Gospel of the Palms, above I realised that Jesus was doing what any good leader does….. he was making preparations so that everything would run smoothly. All the things he was doing were about setting the stage so that all went to plan and ensuring that there were no hiccups. He was doing exactly what we do before a service at church.
He was ensuring that people got the message. The prophet Zechariah had foretold that the Messiah would come from the Mount of Olives, just had Jesus had done. He would come riding on a donkey, just as Jesus had done.
Jesus’ method of entry into Jerusalem was itself a deliberate teaching tool. When Jesus did this, most of the people knew exactly what was going on. He wanted people to relate to the Jewish teachings and prophesies and understand that he was the Messiah.
In addition to being the fulfilment of prophecy, it was Jesus showing the people how the Kingdom of God was going to conquer the world. He wanted to ensure that those who would listen and witness his entry would know exactly who he was and how important the events that would unfold over the next few days were..
What are we doing to help other people accept Jesus and know who He is?Paul
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father
you brought your son Jesus into Jerusalem
to show people the radical grace of your love.
Show us this grace,
and give us eyes to see your goodness.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Saviour and Lord..
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Make Way, Make Way for Christ the King"
Notices
Please see the poster below for all of our services this week
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
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 "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
Today's Bible Reading
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.
Today's Gospel
John 11:1-45 Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Reflection
Ezekiel was a prophet who lived around 600 years before Jesus was born, during what is considered the darkest period in the history of Israel and Judaea.
The Jews had broken their covenant with God and were rebellious against God. They broke the commandments handed down to Moses, by cheating, deceit, immorality and treating the poor and sick badly. Worst of all many had turned their backs on God and had begun again to worship false Gods and idols.
God had spoken to them through other prophets like Jeremiah and had warned them to repent and turn away from their sinful ways. Yet they didn’t take any notice, they continued to ignore God.
So now they were being punished and removed from the Promised Land. First they suffered an invasion by the Assyrian army, and when they continued to disobey God they were conquered by the brutal Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians captured and exiled tens of thousands of Jews across the regions including Ezekial who at the time was in his mid-twenties.
When he was 30 years old, Ezekiel had several powerful visions in which he recognised the Glory of God in all of His magnificence. He came to understand the immense power of God the creator and ruler of the whole cosmos – of everything that has ever existed.
God called him to be his prophet, to speak his people. And God warned Ezekiel that his mission as a prophet would not be easy, because there would be many who wouldn’t believe him and because they were so rebellious. (After all they hadn’t listened to the other prophets!)
God uses Ezekiel to warn the Israelites that if they don’t repent, they will face much more suffering and destruction including against some of their enemies (such as the Moabs, Ammonites), who had moved into some of their land. He also foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon which took place shortly afterwards in 587 BCE.
As God had warned, Ezekiel faced derision and mistreatment when he told the people that God wanted them to repent and change their ways. But Ezekiel has the absolute power of faith and absolute belief in the power of God. He had seen the Glory of God in his visions.
And through God, Ezekiel not only delivers warnings, but he also delivers a message of hope and future redemption. A message of a new covenant, where He tells the Israelites that they can still repent and be saved by the Glory and grace of God.
It’s a message that God still loved his people and wanted them to change and come back to him.
In his vision of the valley of bones, that we just heard, Ezekiel understands that the lifeless bones represent the nation of Israel being restored. Where the people will return from exile - and God, who breathed life into Adam will breathe new life into the nation of Israel. It is a story of a merciful God who has infinite power. A message that through the power of God’s Love, we can experience the Power of Faith - and through Faith, God gives us the Power of Hope.
Even though the situation the Israelites find themselves in seems totally dire and irretrievable and even though it is a situation of their own making – God reminds them of His infinite power and his love for His people. His message through Ezekiel is a promise of hope for the future.
God’s hand is clearly at work and it’s a reminder to us that we should not doubt that the word of the Lord can do what seems impossible.
Then we come to John’s story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus, of course, totally understands the Power of God – He knows how this story ends. He knows that the Father will raise Lazarus – he knows that this is a sign so that others may believe in the Glory and Power of God.
He even tells them plainly, “Lazarus is dead”. And He also tells them, “it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
So Jesus does not hurry to the bedside of the of the one we are told He loves.
Jesus could have asked God to heal him before he returned to Bethany - like He did for the son of the royal official in Capernaum [John 4:46-53]. But He doesn’t, He chooses instead to take the hard alternative and let Lazarus die.
As a consequence of this, the story unfolds into one of deep sorrow for Mary and Martha, who Jesus also loved. And it’s a story of sadness for the other friends and mourners.
Yet amidst all the sadness, we see the power of faith.
Both Martha and Mary had no doubt that Jesus could have saved Lazarus if He had got there in time, but neither really believed that Jesus could raise him from the dead. Not after 4 days when his body had begun to decompose.
Nonetheless, Martha says those wonderful words, “But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” That is a statement of faith in the power of God and Jesus - even if they did not believe that Lazarus could be raised there and then!
In reality no one present expected that!
Jesus did what the Father wanted, to demonstrate beyond all doubt, the power of God. A power that is infinitely greater than death. A power of God’s love and mercy for us all when we do his will.
In the prophecy of Ezekiel and the story of Lazarus, we can see the presence of God in the times of utmost grief and despair.
We can see God’s hand at work doing the impossible.
So, in a world that is broken and at times seems full of despair, let us put our trust in God. Let us show the power of faith in the power of God to reveal His glory. The God through whose word the universe and all that lives came into existence.
Let His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Paul
Our Prayers
Father God,
We thank you that you demonstrated your power
through Jesus, Christ your son.
That you demonstrate your power over death
and reveal your glory to the world through your word.
Help us to have the power of faith
to put our total trust in you.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Christ Triumphant, Ever Reigning"
Notices
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, and in addition to our usual services, St John's Church are holding "Stations of the Cross". Please see the poster below for details.
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, which is also Mothering Sunday.
Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
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 "Lord for the Years"
Today's Gospel
John 19:25-27 Jesus entrusts His mother into John’s care
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
Reflection
Today’s Gospel passage is perhaps one of the most harrowing and yet at the same time one of the most loving and compassionate parts of the Bible.
Harrowing, because we are at the point where Jesus is on the Cross where He will soon die. Harrowing when we think about His mother Mary at the foot of the Cross and what she is having to endure as she has seen Jesus, her beloved son, criticised and victimised by the religious authorities and the Roman leaders. A mother who has seen Jesus betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter, one of His closest allies, and abandoned by most of the rest of His disciples and followers.
And now she stands at the foot of the cross, witnessing the way people are treating, deriding and spitting on her beautiful son as He is publicly humiliated with the indignity of death by public crucifixion. How much pain and suffering must she have felt as her heart was pierced, as she witnessed the horrific suffering of her eldest son?
Amidst this scene of anguish and torment, John, the only disciple to witness the crucifixion, tells us that as Jesus hung on the cross, He saw his mother.
And we learn of the extreme compassion in Jesus’ heart with His concern for the pain His mother is going through. Let’s just think about that the level of selfless compassion that happens at that moment. Jesus is hanging on the Cross, near to the point of death, where He is about to sacrifice His life for the sins of the human race - and His immediate concern is for His mother and who is going to look after her. Added to the physical pain and torment He is going through, He has to witness the pain and agony His mother is going through as she weeps at His feet.
His immediate thoughts are for her future and who will look after her and care for her when He is gone. (It is generally believed by most scholars that her husband Joseph had died by this time and as a widow she would have been left alone).
John describes this most wonderful act of compassion as Jesus says to her, “Woman, here is your son,” before saying to John, “Here is your mother.” In that moment Jesus is making sure His mother will be looked after.
It is a moment of both extreme sorrow and extreme compassion and love.
Jesus’ interactions emphasise that caring for one another is at the heart of the Christian faith. He sees his mother’s pain, and ensures she has support in the form of his beloved disciple, John. In this act of compassion, Jesus is also tending to the loss and sorrow of John, who must also be deeply hurting for his friend who has been ridiculed and tortured and will soon die.
On this Mothering Sunday we see how much Jesus loved His mother. There is a message in this passage about how we should remember our mothers and all the things they have done for us during our lives. They look after us and tend our wounds when we fall and scrape our knee. They listen to our troubles and heartaches and provide emotional support when things go wrong. They teach us to look after each other and of course they care for us; with the hundreds of mundane things; like washing and ironing, cooking meals and cleaning the house so it is safe for us. But most of all, through the example they set from the time we are first cradled in their arms, they teach us how to love.
So on this special day, no matter how many things are going on in our lives - let us make some time to remember them and how they have loved us. Even if our mothers are far away or are no longer with us, let us hold them in our thoughts. And let us give thanks for their love by loving one another.
As Rudyard Kipling wrote: "If I were hanged on the highest hill, I know whose love would follow me most – Mother of mine, O mother of mine!"
Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
As your son hung from the cross,
He continued to show us how to love one another.
He commanded us,
to love one another, just as He loved us.
Help us, day by day, to follow his selfless example of
compassion and love with all whom we meet.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "The King of Love my Shepherd is"
Notices
The Ladies of Leesfield meet this Tuesday, please see the notice below for details.
All of the Holy Week and Easter Services in the parishes of Leesfield and Hey are shown in the poster below.
