Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. Our Sunday services this week 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 resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "New Every Morning is the Love"
Today's Bible Reading
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8aTwo Kinds of Wisdom
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Reflection
We continue looking at James’ epistle. I have to say I like James, he is clear and succinct as well as being pragmatic and a realist.
Today we look at the subject of wisdom. James considers aspects of our wisdom and what Godly wisdom looks like.
Let’s start by thinking about ‘our’ wisdom. If you were to try and decide what attributes make someone wise, where would you start? Maybe, think about people you know or those around you.
Would you start by looking at people who have a degree or a PhD? Is learning and qualifications a pre-requisite for wisdom?
Perhaps you might consider someone who holds a senior position in a business a wise person; a company director or Chief Executive Officer. But is experience in business a reasonable measure of wisdom? After all there are many businesses that fail and go into liquidation.
Maybe you would consider your local vicar or more senior church leaders as a source of wisdom. Perhaps it would be wise for me not to comment on that!
Then some of us might make the judgement that there is no substitute for age and experience and look to the elder members of community. There is an adage - ‘with great age comes great wisdom’. So does that suggest we can rely on the amount of grey hair, (or lack of hair), as an indicator of wisdom? I am also reminded of another saying, ‘….there’s no fool like an old fool.’
James, gives us a clear pointer to the source of wisdom – Godly wisdom which is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. James is showing us characteristics of God’s wisdom that we are to demonstrate to one another. But he is more helpful because he points out the aspects of human nature that have to be avoided and which might trap and lead away from a path of righteousness. He describes the behaviours that take us down a path of dissatisfaction and cause enmity or unrest with others.
If we look at the alternative readings for today, we are, not surprisingly, directed to extracts from Solomon and the Book of Proverbs.
The prologue to Proverbs opens by describing itself as instruction“ for learning about wisdom and instruction, for understanding words of insight, for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity; to teach shrewdness to the simple, knowledge and prudence… “
In other words, it offers insight to the reader about life if they pursue wisdom by fearing and obeying the Lord.
The book of proverbs might be considered as a hand book for how to live well in the world and relate to one another in numerous kinds of situations. It is a book of very short sayings providing guidance on all manner and aspects of life. Most of the sayings directly contrast wise and foolish behaviour – or to put it another way, like James, it shows us what ‘wise’, good behaviour looks like as opposed to ‘foolish’, bad behaviour.
It personifies Wisdom as a woman persuading us to follow her path and outlines a long list of the characteristic behaviours that typify a person of wisdom. We are warned not to be tempted to follow the call to Folly, [which is also described as a woman], who is trying to tempt us to foolish and sinful ways which must be avoided at all costs.
It is largely comprised of the sayings of Solomon who was considered to be one of the widest people ever. You may recall in 1 Kings 3: 5-15, the Lord asked the young king what gift he could give him, and Solomon asked for an understanding and discerning mind to govern his people.
God was pleased with him and gave Solomon a wise and discerning mind; like no one before him or after him has had. Many, therefore, see Proverbs as the manual for leading a righteous and wise life in a Godly manner.
So the wise person is a person who follows the road to righteousness, rather than selfishness or personal ambition at the expense of others. In today’s Gospel reading, [Mark 9:30-37], we see how even the disciples could be distracted by ambition as they argued about who would be the greatest among them after Jesus left. We can see the seeds of argument and dispute obscuring the wisdom of Jesus.
Jesus uses the example of an innocent child who has nothing in order to demonstrate the need for self-sacrifice and to put everyone else first, ahead of our personal goals. We need to think about the impact we have on the lives of everyone, especially the vulnerable, in every aspect of how we live our lives; including how we eat, what we wear, how we travel, how we spend our money and what we say or do. We need to look for the wisdom of God to guide us. Paul
Our Prayers
Loving Father,
Grant me the gift of wisdom in my daily decisions to discern and do your will.
Guide my thoughts, words, and actions,
and let your Holy Spirit show me the path of righteousness.
Lord I pray that you help me to remember
to put You and everyone else ahead of myself,
as our saviour Jesus Christ commanded us to do.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Praise and Thanksgiving"
Notices
This coming Saturday, the 28th September, is the crowning of our new Harvest Queen, Amelia. Please see the poster below for details -
