Sunday Worship 26th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish as we celebrate Christ the King. Our Church services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'.

If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find today's Gospel reading, a wonderful reflection from our friend, Revd Dr Paul Monk, prayers and hymns below.

Our first hymn this morning is "From Heaven You Came (Servant King)"

Today's Gospel

 Matthew 25: 31-46           The Sheep and the Goats

Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Reflection

Today’s Gospel tells us about the great final judgment that every human on planet Earth will participate in, including you, and me. We find this parable in Matthew chapter 25, which shares three different parables all in connection to the return of Christ. The parable of the ten virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats, which we’ll be looking at today. Additionally, in Matthew 24, we see Jesus talking about the end times, so nestled immediately after his talk about the last days and the destruction of the temple, are these 3 parables. 

The parable is very simple, yet it’s also quite complex. It’s also exceedingly practical. It’s a parable about sheep and goats. It’s interesting how Jesus taught the crowds who followed him. He taught spiritual truths by referring to normal parts of everyday life. Typically, ancient nations like Israel were designed in a particular way. There were various walled cities, to defend against invading armies. And these walled cities would be surrounded by farmlands and grazing pastures. There was no complicated supply chain to keep everyone supplied. If a city wanted food, it would have to be surrounded by farmlands and flocks and herds. It’s common. If you think about cities and large towns today it’s pretty similar, you have the innercity area, and surrounding the city you see various farmlands. So what would everyone see and be aware of? Flocks of sheep, goats, farming, planting, and so on. So Jesus taught by referencing such things. If Jesus was walking the Earth today, I imagine he would reference things like the internet, cars, colleges, industries, restaurants, and sports teams.

But, in any case, Jesus teaches here in Matthew 25, about when he returns to Earth. We know that this will happen at some point in the future, though we don’t know exactly when. So let’s just dive in. It says, ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Sheep will typically follow their master, and tend to gather in flocks. Goats are different. They are more independent and more likely to be resistant and go their own way. Jesus uses a simple contrast to help us understand the judgment. And it continues, saying - 

‘Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ If Jesus taught this parable today he would be accused of teaching a works based gospel. This kind of talk makes us wonder, what about grace through faith alone! Do we just have to believe! Well, here it is. Jesus puts a firm emphasis on what people do for others. But surely we couldn’t do any of these things properly without believing in Him first. So the fact that our deeds must bear fruit, it’s very important. It’s vital. It’s evidence of real faith. And if it’s not happening, something is very wrong. Surely we are all providing for others? We provide food to the hungry. Providing water to the thirsty. Offering advice and a cheery word for the homeless. We provide clothing to charities especially for children which fulfil that mandate to provide clothing. And we’re also called to visit and care for the sick, and to visit those in jail. Now you may be tempted to say well there are many charities doing this so I’m good I want to challenge us today, be out there meeting needs. Make it part of our life, make a plan, and get to work providing for the needs of others. 

The Gospel continues, ‘Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ‘The King will reply, ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 

The amazing thing is, whenever we do one of these things for someone in need, it’s just like we did it for Jesus himself. Did you give someone some food? You did it for Jesus. Did you visit someone in hospital? You did it for Jesus. Did you minister to a child? You did it for Jesus. And apparently part of our judgment as Christians will be, did we fulfil these mandates to help those in need? And in particular, did we help other Christians in need? That’s the most difficult part of this parable to understand though, is Jesus talking about “the least of these my brothers” is he talking about Christians only? Or is he talking about helping anyone? Honestly, I think the best way to resolve this, is to simply help whoever is in need. We could say, and particularly, be helping other Christian brothers and sisters, is that fair? Help anyone, but in particular, if a Christian brother or sister is in need in our faith community, prioritise that need. 

Then we see Jesus addressing those on the left, the goats, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” and he will reply, ‘truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these; you did not do for me.’ 

Have you ever noticed someone in need, and the Lord was moving in our heart to go talk to them or help them or pray for them, and we’ve felt the Holy Spirit say go do it, and we didn’t? There have been times most of us have felt that. So if the Spirit is speaking to you, be sure to go quickly and do it. And honestly, if you did feel the Lord moving you to help someone or meet a need, and you didn’t do it, let us repent and ask God’s forgiveness. The Bible says that to know the good we’re supposed to do, and to not do it, that is sin, from James 4:17. In any case, we see Jesus saying depart from me, to the goats, who did not care for him. These are the lazy Christians who did not help those in need. They didn’t serve others. They served themselves. And if we live that way, we’ll be held accountable. 

Jesus actually says to them, you are cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Scary stuff. And sometimes we don’t like to talk about this part, about divine accountability. God is love. God is mercy. God is gracious. But God is also a just judge .So It matters how you live and the choices to make. We are all accountable to God. And there will be a day of judgment, when we give an account for how we lived. Make doing acts of kindness and love part of your daily life. God will give you opportunities to help people and meet needs. All you have to do is take those opportunities. What is our motivation for this lifestyle of service: God is really real. The Bible is really God’s word. Jesus Christ is really our Saviour. Which means every good deed we do in this life for someone, is just like we did it for Jesus our Lord himself. And we know we will be rewarded in heaven for each good deed we do. Finally I want us to picture in our mind a vision from God, in which they see Jesus in heaven, and Jesus will show these people their house in heaven, and how every time they do a good deed, or preach the gospel, or meet someone’s need, it adds on something new to the house. And Jesus is the carpenter, building the house in heaven, preparing it for them when they arrive in heaven. How beautiful is that? I think it’s amazing. And indeed God’s word says that we will be rewarded for what we do in this life for Christ. Great is our reward in heaven, when we serve Jesus here. Every loaf of bread, every gallon of water, every piece of clothing given to those in need are jewels in your crown in heaven. 

I know these things are true. So Christians, be like the sheep that follow our great shepherd Jesus Christ. Don’t be like the goats, who pretend to care about the needy, but don’t really do anything to help people. They just serve themselves. Don’t just pretend. Really live it out.                              Rev. Dr. Paul Monk

Our Prayers

The Collect for Christ the King

Eternal Father,

whose Son Jesus Christ ascended to the throne of heaven

that he might rule over all things as Lord and King:

keep the Church in the unity of the Spirit

and in the bond of peace,

and bring the whole created order to worship at his feet;

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Today's final hymn is "Christ Triumphant, Ever Reigning"

Notices

All our Advent Services and Events are shown in the poster below

Sunday Worship 19th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the 2nd Sunday before Advent. Today we will be celebrating St Hugh's Day with a special family service at St Hugh's School. The service will be at 11 am, and there will be no service at either St Agnes' or St Thomas' today.

If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find a Bible reading, reflection and prayers below.

The Collect for St Hugh of Lincoln

O God,

who endowed your servant Hugh

with a wise and cheerful boldness

and taught him to commend to earthly rulers

the discipline of a holy life:

give us grace like him to be bold in the service of the gospel,

putting our confidence in Christ alone,

who is alive and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Our first hymn this morning is "Morning has Broken"

Today's Gospel

Matthew 25: 14-30     The Parable of the Talents

Jesus said, “It is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. 

Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 

After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 

And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 

Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 

But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Reflection

I’ll start this reflection by asking the question - what was a talent in biblical terms? The answer is, a unit of currency similar to a denarii. It was worth a significant amount in value and some suggest it was equivalent value to 75 pounds in weight of gold. 

But to some extent that is irrelevant, because the underlying message here is about how the slaves used the money the that the rich man had given them. We are told that the rich men divided his wealth between the slave according to their talent. The first two slaves worked actively and traded the money successfully thereby doubling their master’s investment. Presumably, there was an element of skill involved and had they not been experienced they could potentially have made a loss. Interestingly, the second slave was just as successful as the first, and made the same rate of return on the amount he was entrusted with. 

The third slave however, chose to play it safe and just put the rich man’s money where it would be secure and he could guarantee being able to return it in full. At first it might seem like this was reasonable. We have been told that this slave had the least ability or experience yet he had still been entrusted with a relatively huge sum of money, (probably worth over 15 years wages). So, keeping it safe might seem like a satisfactory option. As the slave freely admitted, ‘he was afraid’ of the master and presumably of the consequences of losing some or all of the money.

Nonetheless, instead of being praised, he is severely admonished and  cast out. Does that seem harsh? After all, there is no suggestion that he was a bad or dishonest man.

However, we are given two other pieces of information to consider. Firstly, the rich man was away ‘for a long time’. Secondly, just as we have in our time, there was the option to put the money into a bank where it would have accrued interest over the long period while the master was away. This would not have required any great experience from the slave and would have made a return on the investment, even if modest by comparison with the other two.

So, how does this apply to us in our everyday lives? We need to consider what God has entrusted us with. We are blessed with ‘talents’, that is in a skill sense rather than monetary sense. Just like the slaves, some of other may have more or less skills or abilities than others, but what we have is given to each of us by God. 

They are our talents to use and nurture both in our human and spiritual development. They are talents given for us to use, not only for ourselves but for the good of others and for the glory of God who gave them to us. 

We all have something to offer, none of us is useless despite how hard a deal we think we may have been given from time to time. It is not for us to worry about or be jealous that someone else appears more talented or more able to help. It is for us to develop whatever we have; be that an ability to develop lifesaving medicines, sort out international conflicts or simply care for those in our community as best we can.

At the end of the day, God does not expect us all achieve the same level of contribution. The return God expects from us is commensurate with the level of talent we have been given. 

The third slave was not condemned because he didn’t double the money that the rich man had given him, he was cast out because he did nothing at all with what he had been given.  

We all have a choice about how we use what we have been blessed with. It is up to us to decide of we want to enter into the joy of the master or be thrown into the darkness.     Paul

Our Prayers

Loving and generous Father,

We thank you for blessing us with a variety of skills and talents.

Help us to use what we have to your glory

and to support others where we can.

We pray for guidance and wisdom to use what we have,

to make the world a better place and bring your kingdom closer.

Amen

Today's final hymn is "How Great Thou Art"

Sunday Worship 12th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Third Sunday before Advent. This morning’s service will be at St Thomas’ Church at 9.30 am, with no service at St Agnes’. It will be a short Service of the Word, with no hymns, and the names of the servicemen from our parish who died during the two World Wars will be read out and commemorated.

Following our own service, we will assemble at Lees Library at 10.15, together with the Royal British Legion, fellow Christians from Churches Together in Lees and District, uniformed organisations, and members of the local community. We will then process to Lees Cemetery for the annual Service of Remembrance.

Our first hymn this morning is "Make Me a Channel of Your Peace"

Today's Gospel

Matthew  25:1-13  Parable of the Ten Virgins    

Jesus said, “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Reflection

Are you the sort of person who always sets off in plenty of time to get to an appointment or stocks up with essential items just in case you can’t get to the shops? Or are you the sort of person who is always on the last minute and then start to panic if you’re in a traffic jam because you’ll be late? Perhaps you’re the sort of person who always waits until the needle on the fuel gauge is well in the red believing there will be plenty of time to get fuel. You haven’t considered that there may be a diversion on the road or that the garage will be shut when you get there. 

Whilst there are several aspects to this parable, the key point is are we prepared? In this case, are we prepared for the second coming of Jesus when we will all be judged? 

We can compare the oil for the lamps as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, that is sent to nourish and guide us and also to God’s grace. 

We get this through belief and trust in Jesus and what he did for our salvation. Moreover by having an ongoing loving relationship with God. A relationship that happens every day not just occasionally. 

Building that relationship, can of course come through reading or listening to scripture, even turning to scripture for comfort when we are struggling or facing difficult times. It also comes from praying regularly. That doesn’t have to be formal prayers or using  a complex set format. It doesn’t have be at a set time of day or just once a day. 

Rather, it can be finding some quiet time and just talking with God, silently in reflection and thought, or if you prefer, talking out loud. Telling God about what sort of day you’ve had so far; perhaps just thanking Him for something wonderful you’ve seen in creation as you walk along. Maybe, thanking Him for something that gone well that day and we can of course always talk to God about what’s troubling or worrying us. 

If we have an active relationship with God, we will have His grace in abundance. God has grace in unlimited amounts, but it is not something that can be stocked up on at the last moment, or something that you can borrow from someone else. Each of us is responsible for acquiring our own grace, and no matter how busy our lives are, each of us responsible for building our relationship with a God who loves us so much that He sent His only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  Paul

Our Prayers

Gracious Father, 

Help me to understand what I can today and every day, 

to prepare for the time when Jesus comes again.

Lord, give me the grace today to find you in every encounter. 

Help me to recognise you and build a closer relationship with you,

And fill my lamp with the oil of your loving grace.

  Amen

Today's final hymn is "Great is Thy Faithfulness"

Notices

Next Sunday, the 19th November, we will be celebrating St Hugh’s Day with a Parish Eucharist at St Hugh’s School on Wildmoor Avenue, Holts. Revd. Chris will be leading this family-friendly service, which will be the only service in the parish on that day, and children from the school will be singing. If you would like to attend, but do not have transport, please contact your churchwardens and they will try to pair you up with someone who can take you. 

Sunday Worship 5th November

 Sunday Worship

Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fourth Sunday before Advent. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'.

If you are not able to be with us in person, we are pleased to be able to share today's service transcript from our neighbouring churches of St Barnabus Clarksfield and Holy Trinity Waterhead. Just click on the lonk below to access - 

Medlock Head resources 4 before Advent