May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.
Collect
Almighty God, you search us and know us: may we rely on you in strength and rest on you in weakness, now and in all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Confession
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, trusting in God’s mercy and love.
Heavenly Father, we ask your forgiveness for the sins by which we have displeased you: for the wrong things we have done, and for the good we have failed to do. May we be cleansed from our sins and made ready to do your will; we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May almighty God cleanse and deliver us from all our sin, and may he restore in us the image of his glory, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
God’s Word - Romans, chapter 13, verses 8 to the end :-
Leave no debt outstanding, but remember the debt of love you owe one another. He who loves his neighbour has met every requirement of the law. The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and any other commandment there may be, are all summed up in the one rule, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Love cannot wrong a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.
Always remember that this is the hour of crisis: it is high time for you to wake out of sleep, for deliverance is nearer to us now than it was when first we believed. It is far on in the night; day is near. Let us therefore throw off the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.
Let us behave with decency as befits the day: no drunken orgies, no debauchery or vice, no quarrels or jealousies! Let Christ Jesus himself be the armour that you wear; give your unspiritual nature no opportunity to satisfy its desires.
Matthew, chapter 18, verses 15 to 20 :-
Jesus said, ‘If your brother does wrong, go and take the matter up with him, strictly between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others with you, so that every case may be settled on the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, report the matter to the congregation; and if he will not listen even to the congregation, then treat him as you would a pagan or a tax-collector.
'Truly I tell you: whatever you forbid on earth shall be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth shall be allowed in heaven. And again I tell you: if two of you agree on earth about any request you have to make, that request will be granted by my heavenly Father. For where two or three meet together in my name, I am there among them.’
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
Reflection on the Readings
Nothing in our church life is truly holy until and unless we get the basics of living together right. There is a saying that a person can be “so heavenly minded that they’re of no earthly use”. But to be serious about religion and faith should never be any kind of escape from the realities of ordinary life. Your spiritual beliefs have to be worked out in the everyday business of living together.
More seriously, it’s no use looking good as a religious organisation if it’s just a facade. That’s exactly what Jesus attacked some of the Pharisees for when he called them “whited sepulchres” - in other words, they were like the burial places that were constantly whitewashed and kept clean on the outside, while inside of course was corruption and decay.
Many organisations and institutions have been accused of burying the bad stuff and indulging in cover-ups, so as to protect their good name and reputation. And sadly the Church has been among them, in the past at least. There are still stories of abuse, neglect and malpractice that remain hidden, though over the last year each local church has been asked to research and report any historic instances where people have acted badly or indeed failed to act when they should have.
Both our readings today are about living together well within the Christian community. And it’s clear that our mission and ministry in the world has to rest on a sure foundation of ministry to one another within the Church. We have to start here as we mean to go on out there. And if we don’t, what we do out there it won’t work.
This requires more of us than simply being politely nice to one another. “Leave no debt outstanding,” writes Paul. While Jesus instructs his disciples in a progressive response to a situation of disagreement or transgression. So where things go wrong, we shouldn’t just paper over the cracks or try to live with it, it does need to be sorted out. Sadly, in what Jesus says, it’s clear that if it can’t be sorted out, then someone has to go - or be excluded.
That really would be a very last resort, only after every other attempt to sort things has failed. But better that than a toxic environment, and I’ve known one or two in churches - one, for example, where two dynastic families at odds used the church as a battleground; another where the life of a churchwarden was made a misery by another lady within the church who was clearly consumed by jealousy.
Having said that one should leave no debt outstanding (and I take that to mean both any debt you owe and also any debt owed to you), Paul goes quickly on to say “and remember the debt of love you owe.” So the practicalities of Christian living together aren’t just to do with getting things sorted out, and not letting stuff fester, not letting disagreements turn into feuds - the method of doing all this has to be based in love. “Love your neighbour as yourself” quotes Paul to the Romans. And in another letter John reminds us that a Christian “cannot claim to love God, whom he has never seen, if he fails to love his brother, whom he sees every day.”
“How am I going to love someone I don’t like?” is a question I’ve been asked more than once. It’s all very well to talk about hating the sin, but loving the sinner - but how do you do that in practice? Asked the same question, C.S. Lewis advised that we should do our best to act as though we loved the other person. He reported his own experience - that it had changed him and helped him to understand why the other person had been acting in ways he was finding difficult.
We think of love as something that just happens - or perhaps doesn’t; but our one word translates several different words in New Testament Greek, and therefore also several different understandings of what love is. And love in this sense is an act of will, a deliberate choice, a decision to act in a certain way - a duty, even. It requires us to seek to understand the other person, it disciplines us to desire the best for them, and it requires of us both generosity and honesty. It doesn’t mean covering anything up, or accepting or tolerating bad behaviour, or acting weakly or not at all. But put at its simplest, it means dealing with each other as God deals with us. If we get that right, we’ll be building his kingdom right where we are.
Statement of faith
We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love. We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high. We believe in one God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Prayers
Pray for the world: for all who are working to bring help to those in need, and relief to those who are burdened and oppressed, and that those in places of power may exercise the authority they have with compassion and concern, and with peaceful intent. Continue to pray for the international response to Covid-19, and for co-operation in the search for a safe and effective vaccine.
Pray for the Church worldwide to be united in mission and service, and to overcome the barriers that we raise between us by choosing to be like Christ in our humility and openness and love. Pray for Christians in southern Africa, and especially for the Anglican Province of Southern Africa, in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Eswatini and St Helena. In our own Diocese, pray for Bishop Richard, and for the churches and communities of the Hereford Deanery.
Pray for all who are ill, troubled or in need: may they find healing and peace, and may those who care for them do so safely. Pray for those infected with Covid 19, and for a swift and effective response to new outbreaks.
Pray for families and friends, and the life of our communities. Pray for our local schools and colleges in the first full week of the new school year. Pray for the interviews this week for a new incumbent for Pontesbury and Stiperstones. Pray we may continue to act with responsibility and care, looking out for each other, and keeping safe ourselves.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Blessing
May God keep us faithful to his word, and ready to share his love; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us always. Amen.
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