Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany – 2 February 2020

The Faith Nurture Forum would like to thank Rev Jonathan Fleming, Minister of Cumbrae with Largs St John’s, for his thoughts on the fourth Sunday after Epiphany.

Our new online music resource is now live: here you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4). The search function allows you to bring up a list of songs by keyword, tune, theme, author, composer and metre, covering all of the indexes in the hymnbook. The site features Weekly Worship and thematic/seasonal playlists, alternative settings and background information on the hymns.

Introduction ...... 2 Micah 6:1-8 ...... 2 Psalm 15 ...... 3 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 ...... 3 Matthew 5:1-12 ...... 4 Sermon ideas ...... 4 Prayers ...... 5 Alternative Material ...... 7 Musical suggestions ...... 13

Introduction

On Sunday 2 February, the Church celebrates Candlemas, the Presentation of Jesus to God in the temple 40 days after His birth. In Catholicism, it is also a celebration of the Virgin Mary’s purification. Many people associate this day with the start of Spring – the appearance of snowdrops, known also as Candlemas Bells. In the Christian faith, these flowers are also synonymous with hope.

The passages for the fourth Sunday after Epiphany appear to emphasise the need for standards, which the people of the time seemed to be falling short of in a multitude of ways. Can we read these passages through the same lens today? My approach to these texts explores this possibility.

Micah 6:1-8

If we were to imagine this passage from Micah as a courtroom scene, the people of Israel are in the dock on trial. God, the Judge, proceeds to list the ways God’s people should be behaving, followed by the variety of ways in which they have spectacularly fallen short of God’s expectations as well as letting one another down.

Continuing the courtroom analogy, the mountains are called as witnesses – the place where sacrifices would have been offered to false gods and pagan altars built.

What has God done to deserve such behaviour from the accused? Nothing!

In fact, God has been nothing but a patient, loving guide and companion who has given them countless opportunities to repent and return.

And when God’s people realise the error of their ways, what do they do? They offer to sacrifice all sorts of objects and livestock in the hope of appeasing God, for fear of acts of wrath. How short a memory they have! God does not work in this way… God does not want to be kept happy – that is not enough! God wants changed lives; God longs for a transformed people who seek nothing but justice, humility and love. Like many other times in the lives of Israel (cf. the Book of Judges), the people of God are travelling like a ship without a rudder and lose sight of all that God has done for them and continues to do for them, in spite of their short memories…

Thank goodness we have a God of patience, grace and mercy!

Psalm 15

The Psalmist presents us with a list of ten standards expected of God’s people, which each of us should want to live up to at any point in our life; be it refusing to harm others with our words or actions, striving to always tell the truth or always keeping one’s promises.

Like this Sunday’s passage from Micah, the hilltop, a place of height and significance, is seen to intertwine with tent (or sanctuary) – both places where God can be found. This is a common pattern in Hebrew poetry, where the repeating pattern is found more in the thought than in the sound or rhythm. Verse 3 reminds us of the power of words. As we read in the Book of Proverbs, “Rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18).

As we read in Psalm 15, a life lived lovingly and faithfully in relationship with God affords us the benefits of now and of eternity.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

In these early verses from Paul’s letter to Corinth, we read of the wisdom of God and how it cannot be compared to any conventional, earthly wisdom. God’s wisdom is beyond the comprehension of many, as seen in the reaction of the Jews and the Greeks to the preaching of Christ crucified, who take offence or brand it as folly respectively.

For those who do not believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ, the message of His death and resurrection may sound foolish, as for many, sadly, death is perceived as the end of the road with nothing to follow.

Paul’s explanation of the meaning of the Cross reminds us that we should be compassionate to each other because of what Christ has been prepared to do for us in love. One should not seek pride or an attitude of one-upmanship; rather we should seek to be Christ-like in our words and deeds. If boastfulness is to factor in our lives, it should be to boast about God and God alone (v31).

Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus uses His longest known sermon to outline what is expected of followers of the Way in the giving of the Beatitudes. William Barclay describes the Sermon on the Mount as ‘the opening of Jesus’ whole mind to His disciples; […] the summary of the teaching which Jesus habitually gave to His inner circle’(1).

The Beatitudes essentially formed Jesus’ code of ethics for His disciples and all who sought to follow Him. They also demonstrated the expectations of the Old Testament manifesting themselves in the new Kingdom. They are not a pick and mix, however – Jesus expects us to accept them in their entirety and to live by them as Christ’s followers.

Rather than ‘blessed’, some translations open each beatitude with the word ‘happy’. In order to find the truest form of happiness in hope and joy, one is called to follow Christ without counting the cost. While this may not result in happiness in terms of a smile on one’s face, living a Christ-like life leads us to a happiness beyond understanding in the Kingdom of God – in sacrificing your personal rights and privileges in service and care to others, one can look forward to the gifts of God that are beyond our wildest dreams…

[1. Barclay, W., The Daily Study Bible – The Gospel of Matthew Vol 1 Chapters 1-10, (Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, 1979), p. 87]

Sermon ideas

Whether we are of school age, in employment or part of a group or organisation, each of us are bound by rules, procedures and codes of conduct. Some roll their eyes at the sight of a policy document, rulebook or checklist, but these things are often in place to protect everybody present and to allow everyone to feel valued, included and safe.

The texts for today show a variety of ways in which God wants us to live our lives lovingly, faithfully and authentically. A number of these ‘rules’, commandments and beatitudes are hard to read and to aspire to, but if we were to live by them, what a wonderful world we would live in! If we were to live our lives demonstrating the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ in our day to day activities, showing the compassion of Christ through our mouths and our hands and demonstrating the humility and grace of our Lord, even when times are hard, we would live in a world where, as it is written in Micah 6, one could truly act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with one another and with God.

Prayers

Prayer of Adoration God of light and revelation, as the darkness of winter gives way to the hope and renewal of spring, we praise You for the beauty of the Earth around us. For hilltop and sanctuary; for ocean bed and landscape, we give You thanks and praise.

Lord, Jesus Christ, may Your light shine upon us this day as we gather to lift our hearts and voices in praise, open our ears to Your Word and offer our very selves in service.

Inspiring and challenging Spirit, be with us in this place. Fill us with Your love and peace so that we share these gifts with all and with each other.

Confession Lord God, You have done so much for us, more than we deserve; more than we can list; more than we can comprehend.

For the times when we fall short, forgive us. For the times when we fail to acknowledge just how blessed we are, forgive us. For the times we show little care to those who are struggling, forgive us.

Lord, Jesus Christ, we are sorry for the words we use, or actions we commit

that harm others and cause tension.

Yet as we approach You, we discover that Your care for us remains strong. You call us blessed, for despite our ways, we remain ‘right with You’. Forgiven, loved and free, may we enter Worship this day ready to seek Your will and Your will alone. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Intercession God of love, whose foolishness is greater than any human wisdom, You challenge us with standards to aspire to and yet You overflow with love, openness and acceptance.

Today, we pray for the World that You have gifted to us and called us to steward, as we seek to look on it through Christ-like eyes: eyes that help us to see a clearer vision of the world; eyes that help us to see people as they really are; eyes to recognise that despite the trials that are experienced by some, they are blessed…

We pray this day for those who are financially poor. As we sit down to food at our tables this day, may we remember Your children who go hungry.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray this day for those who are poor in spirit. Those craving comfort and those who need space and time to heal.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray this day for those who are silenced or overlooked. Those who deserve our respect; those who deserve for their voice to be heard.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

We pray for those who work for peace and reconciliation. May their voices be heard in a world that urgently needs to listen and pay attention to what they say.

Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer

Lord Jesus Christ we are more than just Your people, we are blessed to be called Your children. Help us as Your family to reach out to the lost, the broken and the suffering.

In Jesus’ name we pray Amen

Alternative Material

This material has been supplied by kind permission of Spill the Beans and allows you to explore the readings or theme of the service in creative ways that include everyone gathering for worship.

New material from Spill the Beans is provided in the latest issues available from their website.

Bible notes – Matthew 5:1-12

Where Blessing Is Found Listening on the Mount to Jesus as he presents ‘The Beatitudes’ must have been as much of a problem for the gathered crowd as it is today for us trying to make sense of what we might call a ‘counter-cultural’ list.

In the Jewish influenced society of the day, however, the people listening would not have had any problem with the notion of what it means to be ‘blessed’. They would get the fact that what Jesus was inferring was not a state of happiness correlating to worldly circumstances (a happiness that is fleeting and fickle); but instead his words indicated a description of the spiritual attitude and condition of people who are ‘right with God’.

The problem for these people listening, and for us today, is with the categories of people listed by Jesus as those who find it easiest to be ‘right with God’. This is where the ‘counter- cultural’ list comes in. What we have here is Jesus painting a picture that is a paradox to our own way of assessing life. We assume certain circumstances of life lead to a better experience of life and a greater sense of being blessed. The beatitudes subvert these assumptions and make us ponder our aspirations. There is nothing glamorous in this list of circumstances within which a person is blessed.

It is good and encouraging that those who find themselves in these experiences can be made right with God and will know themselves blessed. For these people we are grateful that Jesus comes with a Gospel of Good News. For the majority of us however, whose experience of life from a worldly point of view is generally better than the experiences of the people referred to here, the problem is – how easy is it for us to be made right with God?

In the context of what Jesus is saying is it possible for a rich man, a bold confident person, a happily married woman, a soldier, a well-liked person to be blessed? The list of those mentioned in the sermon of Jesus does not include those people whose lives are ‘all-right’!

The easiest thing for us to do is to satisfy ourselves by saying Jesus only picked out a few groups for the inferred state of being blessed and there must be many more people and groups who will find themselves made right with God. That is the easy way but nonetheless the text asks us not just to accept an easy way of interpretation. Nobody ever said the study of scripture should be easy or indeed comfortable. Perhaps as we ponder these things we are meant to stretch our minds and assess our aspirations and assumptions about where blessing is found.

In relation to the context of Jesus’ words we can point to the fact that Matthew is steeped in Hebrew tradition. The way that he frames the Sermon of Jesus bears direct correlation to the promised Messiah of the Old Testament who would bring ‘good news for the poor’. The similarity between the Beatitudes and Old Testament passages (such as Isaiah chapter 61) are striking. In his words Matthew points to Jesus as the fulfilment of the promise of the Messiah: the one who brings in the Kingdom of Heaven.

As we consider these words we will find a multitude of different angles by which to interpret these twelve verses and apply a conclusion to our life, world and discipleship. That is the beauty of Biblical texts. We can explore the words in a way that resonate with a specific thought we have in our mind. As we prise open a particular aspect of the text we discover a window to something important for us to consider. Sometimes the window

allows us to see a big picture, sometimes just a small one, but it always reveals something that helps us on our journey.

Retelling for Young People

Two Dads It was the end of another day at school. Paul and Ali followed the rest of their class out into the playground. “There’s my Dad over there! Remember the plan for walking home! See you tomorrow!” said Paul, waving as he left his friend.

“I’m not forgetting our great idea! See you!” said Ali, looking towards the gate and thinking, “And here’s my Dad coming too!” Paul’s Dad and Ali’s Dad were friends with each other too. They worked together. Paul had noticed that his Dad was always happy after work, but Ali had realised her Dad always seemed grumpy. But they did the same job. So today Paul and Ali had decided to make the walk home from school a bit different.

“How was school today?” It was always the first question Paul’s Dad asked.

“You always ask me that!” said Paul. “How about you, Dad? Let me ask you this time: how was work today?”

“Oh, you want to know about my day, son? Well, let me think, I got round three parks today, and quite a few streets. Four bin bags filled at the first park, seven at the second, and two at the third, but I had to spend an extra hour scrubbing graffiti off the monument.”

“You’re always happy when you meet me at school, Dad. Isn’t it boring just picking up rubbish and sweeping the streets and cleaning up graffiti all day?”

“Well, it’s a beautiful world, and I wish people would keep it that way. But sometimes we mess it up, so I just do my bit to bring back the beauty. If nobody did the job I do, what a terrible sight the streets would be!”

“But don’t you get angry, Dad? Don’t you wish there was no litter and no mess?”

“I wish it with all my heart! Every time I see the bottles and newspapers and old furniture and broken toys that people just dump and leave lying, I wish I could meet them and say, please, please don’t do that! But people get careless sometimes, so if a few of us can come along and be a bit more careful, then that helps things, doesn’t it?”

Ali was walking the other way from school with her Dad, and he had asked, as he always did, “How was school today?” Ali grinned as she remembered what she and Paul had decided to do. “You always ask me that!” she began. “How about you, Dad? Let me ask you this time: how was work today?”

“Oh, you don’t want to know about my day.” Ali’s Dad shoved his hands deeper into his pockets, hunched his shoulders and kicked a stone. He was quiet.

Ali tucked her hand round her Dad’s arm and looked up at him. “Dad?”

“Mhmm?”

“Don’t you like the job you do?”

“What can anyone like about picking up rubbish and sweeping the streets? What difference does it make? The world’s a mess, what’s the point in caring about it? I saw a load of graffiti on one of the park monuments today. Huh, I just walked on by. I think Paul’s Dad came along behind me and cleaned it all off. It took him an hour. An hour! I don’t know why he bothers.”

• What do you think Paul and Ali said to each other when they met at school the next day?

• How do you think they felt about what their Dads told them?

Activities

Complete the Sentence You will need: cut out letters (or words) to spell “Blessed are the...” and pictures relating to the people described in the beatitudes (poor, hungry, and so on).

At the end of the room have individual letters or words ‘Blessed are the …’ include the dots!

The children run to the end of room pick up a letter/word and build it up in their team until ‘Blessed are the …’ is spelt out. Then they need to find images to complete the sentence.

You could split this into two games with the children in the middle of the hall and some run for the letters while the others go the opposite way and pick that matching pictures for poor, mourners, hungry and so on.

What Direction? Name the four walls in the room a direction (North, South, East and West), perhaps by asking the children which direction the sun rises, where is the warmer weather...). This is a game where the children run to the wall when you shout the direction. Last person is out.

When working with the older children add in a slightly different direction: South- West, North-East.

Explain that the Beatitudes show us the direction we should take in life.

Prayers

Call to Worship Leader: When you are at the end of your rope, when you feel you have lost what is most dear to you, when you are content with just who you are, when you have worked up a good appetite for God when you care… …know yourself to be blessed.

All: We gather in this place. We gather in the quiet. We gather to learn. We gather in praise.

Prayer of dedication Lord take us as we are, and take what we bring to you as a sign of our devotion to you.

We are blessed— we are the lucky ones. During the different phases of our lives and amidst the different challenges, you bless us in providing us with what we need. Friendship, security,

wisdom, comfort, love; many different expressions of blessing that are appropriate for our particular needs. Thank you Lord.

These gifts we bring are yours, Bless them and bless us. Amen

Sending All: We will go and strive for peace. We will go and bring folks comfort. We will go and challenge prejudice. We will go, live and love for God.

Leader: Go, you are blessed.

Alternative Material ©2013 Spill the Beans Resource Team

Musical suggestions

You can hear samples of these suggestions in the ‘Weekly Worship’ section of https://music.churchofscotland.org.uk/. This new online music resource will allow you to listen to and search the breadth of music available in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4).

You will find hidden gems and alternative arrangements to familiar songs that will inspire creativity and spark fresh curiosity about how we best use music in worship.

• CH4 457 – “All hail the power of Jesus' Name!” – Nicknamed by some as ‘The National Anthem of Christendom’ this is a rousing opening hymn

• CH4 465 – “Be thou my Vision” – A great closing hymn reminding us to ask God to be the first that we seek after

• CH4 528 – “Make me a channel of your peace” – The beautiful prayer of St Francis of Assisi asking God to make us his instruments.

• CH4 659 – “Put peace into each other's hands” – A reminder of the need to share peace with others and with God

• CH4 710 – “‘I have a dream’, a man once said” – These beautiful words challenge us to forever seek justice, equality and freedom for all

• “God, Your Gift of Peace is Precious” (Tune: Cwm Rhondda) – Powerful words written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette available online: https://www.carolynshymns.com/god_your_gift_of_peace_is_precious.html

You are free to download, project, print and circulate multiple copies of any of this material for use in worship services, bible studies, parish magazines, etc., but reproduction for commercial purposes is not permitted.

Please note that the views expressed in these materials are those of the individual writer and not necessarily the official view of the Church of Scotland, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly.