SUNDAY 7^TH FEBRUARY 2021

OPENING SENTENCE OF SCRIPTURE

– Sing praises to our God who heals the brokenhearted

HYMN

GREETING

Grace and peace to you from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

COLLECT FOR PURITY

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SUMMARY OF THE LAW

Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”

The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.

SILENCE

God our Father,

we confess to you

and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ

that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,

and in what we have failed to do.

We are truly sorry.

Forgive us our sins,

and deliver us from the power of evil,

for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

ABSOLUTION

God, who is both power and love,

forgive you and free you from your sins,

heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,

and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

GLORIA

Sung by Annabelle Guthrie

COLLECT

O Lord,

watch over your household with constant love:

that, supported, by you alone,

we may always stand firm in your protection;

through Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, world without end. Amen

PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD

FIRST READING:

ISAIAH 40:21-31 read by Debbie Johnson

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
who brings princes to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

SILENCE

SECOND READING

1 Corinthians 9:16-23 read by Olive Burbridge

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

GRADUAL HYMN

GOSPEL READING

Mark 1: 29-39 read by Dean Paul Burbridge

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Mark chapter 1 beginning at verse 29

Glory to Christ our Saviour

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel

Praise to Christ our Lord.

SERMON

Mark Twain once said: “To change your life, you need to change your priorities.” This illustration below on priorities is one I have used before but it is well worth repeating.

One day an expert in time management was speaking to a group business students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget. As he stood in front of the group of high powered over achievers he said, “Okay, time for a quiz.” Then he pulled out a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.” Then he said, “Really?”

He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. Then he dumped some gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the space between the big rocks. Then he asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them answered. “Good!” he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel.

Once more he asked the question, “Is this jar full?” “No!” the class shouted. Once again he said, “Good.” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One eager beaver raised his hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!” No,” the

speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.” You must put in these BIG

ROCKS first or you’ll never get them in at all. If you sweat the little stuff (the gravel, the sand) then you’ll fill your life with little things you worry about that don’t really matter, and you’ll never have the real quality time you need to spend on the big, important stuff (the big rocks) The big important stuff like our relationship with God and others.

This big rock of God needs to go in first into our lives but the reality for many of us is that it goes in last. It is not that we had intended it that way it’s just that the sand and gravel of life takes over. Our time is consumed with work, family, schools, our children’s social life and other activities. Activity or work takes over! We can get caught up in work or family and before we know it we haven’t minute for ourselves. It’s a dangerous situation –it’s like a disease- a disease that leads to burn- out or breakdown. Nobody is immune to this disease! Burnout occurs in young and old alike. It is no respecter of persons, and social and financial status has no bearing on the probability of becoming burned out! Most people experiencing burnout do not have a history of emotional and mental disturbances. Those most at risk are generous people- who unselfishly put other people and things before themselves! They are apt to forget about caring for themselves. Only by paying careful attention to our own physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs can we escape burnout! Our lives cannot be all out-put and no input, there has to be a balance!

Balance is essential! When the tires on a car get too far out of balance, the car won’t steer properly and the tires will wear out very fast. The same is true with our lives. If we get too far out of balance, we are unable to keep our lives on track and we quickly wear out mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Such imbalance results in burnout. Burnout is when suddenly we discover that all of our mental, emotional, and physical energies have been consumed. We have exhausted our strength and lost our will to persevere. Burnout usually occurs to goal oriented high achievers who are driven to succeed. Their appointment books are usually full, and they have always done more than their share of the work. Burnout is our emotions’ way of putting the brakes on and bringing high –achieving, goal- oriented persons to a stop before they self- destruct physically. Jesus was all too aware of this danger!

He paid attention to balance. He was aware of the need to take time out for himself, as we see from today’s gospel. He was surrounded by the mentally and physically sick. Everybody was clamouring for him. He was in danger of being consumed. Yet in the middle of this hectic scene, we read ‘early in the morning, he go up and left the house and went off to a lonely place to pray.’ Jesus prayed not only out of a sense of duty but also out a sense of need. This sense of need drove him to seek solitude. What did solitude do for him? It enabled him to recover lost energy. It helped him to keep focussed. But above all it was during these hours of solitude that he maintained and fostered the most important thing in this life-his relationship with the Father. Here lies the secret of his successful ministry.

It was these times apart with the Father that Jesus became more secure in his identity and in his ministry! Jesus made solitude a priority because he needed it. He went off by himself. Oh there was still so much to do! Peter says “Everyone is looking for you.” You are needed. But Jesus knew that his spiritual lifeline was time alone in the presence of His Father. That was the source of his strength, perspective, and direction. You see, life has a way of draining your soul. But it is in solitude that God replenishes and renews the soul. It is in solitude that you rediscover that in grace you are unconditionally loved and accepted and that you don’t have to try to find your importance from the world. It is in solitude that you discover the Father’s heart and can begin to now align your heart to the things that are important to him. It is in solitude that God gives you direction for the future. Solitude invites God’s voice and purposes into your life.

The goal of solitude is not so much to unplug you from your crazy world as it is to change frequencies so that you can hear the Father. Richard Foster has said “Solitude doesn’t give us the power to win the rat race, but to ignore it altogether.” Interestingly, when Peter finds Jesus during his time of solitude and says everyone is looking for you, Jesus responds by saying “Let us go somewhere else so I can preach there also.” Clearly, during that time of solitude God now directs the ministry of Christ to new villages. As you walk your way through the gospels you will discover this thread of solitude that runs consistently through the life of Jesus.

This thread of solitude runs through the lives of Christians. In one cathedral the choir director insists that the cathedral is closed for choir practices because the tune of the melody of the music is not heard when there are distractions from tourists and the like! So in life we need to close the doors of our outside world for a short time so that we can hear the tune of the melody of the Father’s voice in a world of many voices!

The most beneficial way of listening to the tune of the Father’s voice is just to be in his presence without saying or doing anything. Just to sit in his presence, as one might sit by a fire! This may sound easy, but in practice it’s very difficult. Because as soon as we stop, we feel empty, perhaps even useless. Most people get their sense of self- worth from doing. Their value as persons depends on their uselessness. They don’t know how to cope with idleness and stillness. The result is that that their lives can be shallow and superficial. On the other hand, when we immerse ourselves in the quiet and stillness of God’s presence, our projects lose their power over us, and we experience our true worth, which consists not in doing but in being.

Our being and our true identity is uncovered in that time of stillness and quiet! For in the quiet and stillness of God’s presence we realise that we are loved not because of our looks or our social status, but because God loves us unconditionally! Being clothed by God in solitary prayer means that we realize that we have a meaningful life not because of our own achievements but because Christ has imputed His achievements on us!

Solitary prayer is not as difficult as it might at first seem. Solitude is more about the heart than it is the physical location. You just need several minutes alone. It could be in your car, it could be in your home or backyard, it could be in a quiet booth at a restaurant. When we go into solitude we are withdrawing temporarily from conversation, noise, distractions, deadlines and the constant bombardment of stimulation! There we find our true selves in God and so maintain a balance in the input and output of our lives!

To enable this balance to happen in his life, a man was in the habit of going off by himself into a remote wood. One day a friend, curious to know what he was up to, followed him into the wood. When he caught up with him, he found him sitting quietly on a log. What are you doing? he asked the man. I’m praying came the reply. But why come to this remote spot to pray? Because I feel close to God here! But isn’t God to be found everywhere, and isn’t God the same everywhere? God is but I am not! Where for you is that quiet place of encounter and epiphany? Cling to that precious time and place so that the sand and gravel do not take over your life and consume or burn you out but rather make room for the big rock –your relationship with God and enjoy balance and peace in your life! Amen!

THE CREED

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

God from God,

Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one substance with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven;

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father.

With the Father and the Son,

he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYERS

Some of the prayers below are taken and adapted from this week’s Methodist Prayers

Gracious God, we come to you in our weariness and ask for your Spirit to flow into our lives today, right now, as we look to you for all that we need. We lay down our weariness… our loneliness… our isolation… our anxiety…our over-crowded days… and the emptiness of our days. We lay down our fear that this will break us before it is over. As we trust in you, Almighty God, lift us up on wings like eagles’.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

Gracious God, we come to you today to bring the weariness of the world, asking for your Spirit to flow to all who are exhausted, on their knees, worn out. We hold in your love all who are sick, those receiving or waiting for treatment. We hold in your love all who are working to bring healing and wholeness.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

We hold in your love all who are struggling to care for and educate children, at home, in schools, and in nurseries. We hold in your love all who are working to produce food, keep shops open, make sure their neighbours have all they need. We lift to you all frontline workers in so many spheres of work and seek your protection for them.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

We hold in your love the nations of the world afflicted by war and violence, poverty and famine, corruption and injustice. We remember especially those in refugee camps in this inclement weather and in their urgent need for basic resources. Bless the aid agencies in their endeavours to alleviate suffering and to bring aid.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

We hold in your love the government in all the vital decisions that have to be made in terms of the coronavirus, thinking particularly of the protection of all people and the roll out of the vaccine. We remember those whose task is to have a watchful eye on the economy and pray for wisdom and understanding in all they seek to do. We pray for all who are anxious about their business and their work, and we ask that despite the difficulties you might give them peace of mind and heart.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

We hold in your love our friends, families and ourselves, as we strive to have a healthy balance in our lives of interaction and solitude. In our times of stillness may we hear your still small voice inspiring, guiding and blessing us.

Gracious God, hear our prayer

and renew us with your strength.

Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,

our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those+

who sin against us.

Do not bring us

to the time of trial+

but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power

and the glory are yours,

now and forever. Amen.

BLESSING

Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.

HYMN

DISMISSAL

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

In the name of Christ. Amen