Sunday Worship 18th October
St Thomas' Church welcomes you to our Parish Eucharist at 10 am. Our visiting Priest today is Rev'd Aaron Jackman, Curate at Holy Trinity Dobcross.
We follow all of the guidelines to ensure the safety of everyone worshipping here, and we have ample seating to welcome families whilst maintaining safe distancing.
If, for whatever reason, you are unable to join us in church today, you'll find everything you need to worship from home here on this page.
This morning's first hymn is "God Forgave My Sin (Freely, Freely)"
The Gospel for today -
Reflection -
Having tried on many occasions to outwit and trap Jesus, the Pharisees no doubt thought they were on ‘to a winner’ if they could get him to talk about money. Let’s face it, if there’s one subject that can cause an argument or bad feeling its money.
No one likes to be told what to do with their money whether it’s our children, our parents or our friends. In fact, some people can take offence if we even raise the subject or were to ask. “How much did you spend on that?”
Throw taxation into the pot as well and your sure to get some strong views, so it must have felt like the perfect way to catch Jesus out.
Many people despised paying tax to the Romans who were a foreign occupying force in Jerusalem. If Jesus was to say everyone must pay tax, he could have been seen as collaborator with the Romans and have been undermined in front of his followers. However, if he told the people that they should refuse to pay tax, he would have been reported to the authorities and arrested for treason.
But Jesus is much wiser than the Pharisees and responds from his heart, that whilst we should first and foremost be loyal to God – that doesn’t mean we should use that as an excuse to avoid our other commitments. In doing so he reminds us that we are all citizens of two dominions – the spiritual and the temporal. We have duties to each but, by and large, these loyalties are not in conflict.
To pay our dues is the responsible thing to do. We expect and demand services and rights from those in power and government. We expect there to be teachers for our children, people to empty our bins and most importantly at this time, a health system to care for us. It is right and proper that we should contribute towards all that.
Jesus has never been afraid to ‘ruffle feathers’ and talk about money. Throughout his teachings he has shown us that our use of money is part of our faith, part of a response to the love of God which has to involve every part of our lives.
To be a good citizen and to serve God are not in contradiction, since God works through all human systems and institutions to build the final community of love.
Jesus has shown us that giving is a fundamental part of our commitment to be a true Christian. He actively encourages us to give to those who are less fortunate not only with our money but with care, friendship, support and love.
Jesus reminds us that by giving to others, we can at the same time give to God our creator who gives us all we have. When we give to others, we can in our own small way show our commitment and thanks to God who gave us his only son and paid a price for us that we could not.
So, let us give with a joyful heart and give thanks our many blessings.
This morning's prayers -
Our final hymn today is "Let Us With A Gladsome Mind" -
