You may wish to light a candle before you begin.
May the grace, mercy and love of God be with us all. Amen.
Collect
Heavenly Lord, you long for the world's salvation: stir us from apathy, restrain us from excess and revive in us new hope that all creation will one day be healed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Confession
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith, firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments, and to live in love and peace together.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you through our own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what we have left undone. We are heartily sorry, and repent of all our sins. For your Son our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, forgive us all that is past, and grant that we may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your name. Amen.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God’s Word - I Thessalonians, chapter 5, verses 1 to 11 :-
About dates and times, my friends, there is no need to write to you, for you yourselves know perfectly well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘All is peaceful, all secure,’ destruction is upon them, sudden as the pangs that come on a woman in childbirth; and there will be no escape. But you, friends, are not in the dark; the day will not come upon you like a thief. You are all children of light, children of day. We do not belong to night and darkness, and we must not sleep like the rest, but keep awake and sober. Sleepers sleep at night, and drunkards get drunk at night, but we, who belong to the daylight, must keep sober, armed with the breastplate of faith and love, and the hope of salvation for a helmet.
God has not destined us for retribution, but for the full attainment of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that awake or asleep we might live in company with him. Therefore encourage one another, build one another up - as indeed you do.
Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14 to 30 :-
Jesus said, ‘The day of the Lord is like a man going abroad, who called his servants and entrusted his capital to them; to one he gave five bags of gold, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability. Then he left the country. The man who had the five bags went at once and employed them in business, and made a profit of five bags, and the man who had the two bags made two. But the man who had been given one bag of gold went off and dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
‘A long time afterwards their master returned, and proceeded to settle accounts with them. The man who had been given the five bags of gold came and produced the five he had made: “Master,” he said, “you left five bags with me; look, I have made five more.” “Well done, good and faithful servant!” said the master. “You have proved trustworthy in a small matter; I will now put you in charge of something big. Come and share your master’s joy.”
‘The man with the two bags then came and said, “Master, you left two bags with me; look, I have made two more.” “Well done, good and faithful servant!” said the master. “You have proved trustworthy in a small matter; I will now put you in charge of something big. Come and share your master’s joy.”
‘Then the man who had been given one bag came and said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man: you reap where you have not sown, you gather where you have not scattered; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your gold in the ground. Here it is - you have what belongs to you.”
‘“You worthless, lazy servant!” said the master. “You knew, did you, that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered? Then you ought to have put my money on deposit, and on my return I should have got it back with interest. Take the bag of gold from him, and give it to the one with the ten bags. For everyone who has will be given more, till he has enough and to spare; and everyone who has nothing will forfeit even what he has. As for the useless servant, throw him out into the dark, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth!”’
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
Reflection on the Readings
Judgement is very much the theme of our readings today. The very first Christians were looking forward eagerly to “the Day of the Lord” - the coming judgement, which they supposed lay just around the corner. Some people were looking for signs and clues, patterns of numbers that would predict this day, or that. But in our first reading Paul recognises that the Thessalonian Church isn’t like that. They know that the day could happen at any time, and so they must always be ready, always watchful, always prepared.
Though there are still those who from their playing with numbers are prepared to name a date, or who hunt for clues in the Book of Revelation or the Book of Daniel, or maybe the writings of Nostradamus or the sayings of Mother Shipton, I suspect most Christians today are reconciled to the fact that the end of all things isn’t just around the corner after all, and maybe we should apply all these sayings about judgement to our own lives, and at some point our own deaths, rather than to the whole world all at once. For now, anyway.
That doesn’t rob them of their meaning, their power or their immediacy. We still need to take seriously what Jesus says when he says, “This is what the day of the Lord will be like.” There is a reckoning. That simple statement lies at the very heart of the Gospel message. We will have to answer for ourselves, and for what we have done, or have failed to do, with the treasure entrusted to us.
The story of the three servants has the men being entrusted with bags of gold. But it’s worth recording that other translations use the word “talent”. A talent was a measure of silver or gold, around 25 kilos or more - it varied from place to place. And it’s from this parable that the word talent has come to mean what it does today - a natural or special gift, an ability or aptitude. We are judged, it would seem, according to what we make of ourselves, according to how we have used and made the most of the gifts that we’ve been given.
“We mustn’t sleep, like the rest. Keep awake and sober.” So writes Paul to the Thessalonians. Be alive to every opportunity to serve, to share, to give, to be there for others. Don’t waste time; don’t waste gifts; use what you have.
The main door to my former parish church at Minsterley has above it glasses with the sands of time running through, and rather macabre skulls and crossbones. As you entered to worship, you were reminded that time is always running away from us. Christ died to free us from our sin, and so we have that promise of life. But to link ourselves to that promise we must make the best use of the time and talents and opportunities that come our way, and allow his love to guide us in service.
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 -
We pray we may make the best use of the gifts and talents that are entrusted to us, in service and mission. Today in the world Church we pray for Christians in Sri Lanka, and for the Anglican Church of Ceylon. And we pray for our own Diocese, for bishop Richard and for those serving as Rural Deans and Lay Co-Chairs; and today especially for our own Deanery of Pontesbury.
We pray for the world, and for all who are called and elected to high office, that they may govern with insight and vision, and with a desire for justice and peace. We pray for nations struggling to combat the rise in Covid infections, and for the continuing work to develop a vaccine.
We pray for all who are ill today, and for those who care for them, and for our hospitals and health centres through this time of growing pressure. On Road Peace Sunday we pray for those who have been injured, disabled or bereaved through road traffic accidents, and for safety on our roads. We pray this week also for those who are living with chronic lung diseases and for their treatment.
We pray for our families and friends, and for the life of our churches and communities. In Anti-Bullying Week we pray for all that is done to counter and prevent bullying, in schools and workplaces, and on line. And we pray we may continue to act with responsibility and care, looking out for each other, and keeping safe ourselves.
Blessing -
May the God of all grace, who calls us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, establish, strengthen and settle us in the faith; and may the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
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