Easter 4 3 May 2020 Woodley Airfield Church

Theme: everyone is cared for.

Call to WorshipActs 2:42-4742 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

HYMN StF 167 Colours of DayRecording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJPsSr8a8SAColours of day dawn into the mind,The sun has come up, the night is behind.Go down in the city, into the street,And let's give the message to the people we meet.

Refrain:So light up the fire and let the flame burn,Open the door, let Jesus return.Take seeds of his Spirit, let the fruit grow,Tell the people of Jesus, let his love show.

Go through the park, on into the town;

The sun still shines on, it never goes down.The light of the world is risen again;The people of darkness are needing our friend.

(Refrain)

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Easter 4 3 May 2020 Woodley Airfield Church

Open your eyes, look into the sky,The darkness has come, the sun came to die.The evening draws on, the sun disappears,But Jesus is living, and his Spirit is near.

(Refrain)Sue McClellan,. John Paculbo & Keith Ryecroft © Thankyou Music

Opening ResponsesLeader In the beginning

Before time, before people, Before the world began

All GOD WAS

Leader Here and nowAmong us, beside us,Enlisting the people of the earthFor the purposes of heaven,

All GOD IS

Leader In the future,When we have turned to dustAnd all we know has found its fulfilment.

All GOD WILL BE.

Leader Not denying the world, but delighting in it,Not condemning the world, but redeeming itThrough Jesus Christ,By the power of the Holy Spirit,

All GOD WASGOD ISGOD WILL BE

Prayers of ApproachGod of surprisesIn every age you have called men and womenFrom security to dangerFrom comfort to hardship

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From silence to speaking out

We remember with gratitude and wonderThe impetuous fishermanThe despised tax collectorThe zealous persecutorAnd all the other friendsAnd witnesses of ChristWho lived out what they heard and sawAnd wrote for us the story of his life.

We remember with gratitude and wonderThose courageous souls Who first brought the Gospel to our shoresAnd braved wild northern seasDefied rocks and shoalsCrossed wetland and mountainTo offer Christ to our ancient peoples.

We remember with gratitude and wonderHoly men and women of later yearsWho made Christ’s presence brightIn word, and water, wine and bread;And lit a flame of glory to his nameIn places which becameThrough praise and prayerBeacons of hope and sanctuaries of his grace.

We celebrate their faith-filled lives,And pray that they may beBright flames before usGuiding stars above usSmooth paths below us, a sure defence behind us,Until we reach our home,The court of Christ, the peace of Heaven.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord

And we conclude with the prayer Jesus himself taught us:

Our Father, who art in HeavenHallowed be thy nameThy kingdom come

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Thy will be doneIn earth as it is in heavenGive us this day our daily breadAnd forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against us,And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evilFor thine is the kingdom, the power and the gloryFor ever and ever, AMEN

HYMN: StF 706 Longing for LightRecording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJq3bhdgQocLonging for light, we wait in darkness.Longing for truth, we turn to you. Make us your own, your holy people,Light for the world to see.

Chorus Christ, be our light!Shine in our hearts.Shine through the darkness.Christ, be our light!Shine in your church gathered today.

2 Longing for peace, our world is troubled.Longing for hope, many despair.Your word alone has power to save us.Make us your living voice.

Chorus Christ, be our light!Shine in our hearts.Shine through the darkness.Christ, be our light!Shine in your church gathered today.

3 Longing for food, many are hungry.Longing for water, many still thirst.Make us your bread, broken for others,Shared until all are fed.

Chorus Christ, be our light!Shine in our hearts.Shine through the darkness.Christ, be our light!Shine in your church gathered today.

4 Longing for shelter, many are homeless.Longing for warmth, many are cold.

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Make us your building, sheltering others,Walls made of living stone.

Chorus Christ, be our light!Shine in our hearts.Shine through the darkness.Christ, be our light!Shine in your church gathered today.

5 Many the gifts, many the people,Many the hearts that yearn to belong.Let us be servants to one another,Making your kingdom come.

Chorus Christ, be our light!Shine in our hearts.Shine through the darkness.Christ, be our light!Shine in your church gathered today.

Bernadette Farrell (b. 1963) © 1993

READINGSPsalm 23 A psalm of David [NASB]

The LORD is my shepherd,I [a]shall not want.2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside [b]quiet waters.3 He restores my soul;He guides me in the [c]paths of righteousnessFor His name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the [d]valley of the shadow of death,I fear no [e]evil, for You are with me;Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You [f]have anointed my head with oil;My cup overflows.6 [g]Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,And I will [h]dwell in the house of the LORD [i]forever.

Jn 10:1-11 The parable of the shepherd

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10 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

7 Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

HYMN StF 20 Be still, for the presence of the LordRecording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZugvUQ4m90U1 Be still for the presence of the Lord The holy one is here Come bow before him now With reverence and fear In him no sin is found We stand on holy ground Be still for the presence of the Lord The holy one is here

2 Be still for the glory of the Lord Is shining all around He burns with holy fire With splendour he is crowned How awesome is the sightOur radiant king of lightBe still for the glory of the Lord Is shining all around

3 Be still for the power of the Lord Is moving in this place He comes to cleanse and healTo minister his grace

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No work to hard for himIn faith receive from himBe still for the power of the Lord Is moving in this place

David J. Evans (b.1950) © Thankyou Music

SERMONOne of the readings set for today is Psalm 23. In a way, it is a bit odd to hear it in an ordinary service when it is so much associated with funerals. That is when we generally use it, and how comforting it is to hear those words at a time of trauma and stress, when it makes a big difference to feel that we are not alone in our trouble, that someone is caring for us, and that our souls will be restored; that all our lives, come what may, we will be with God, whatever the outward circumstances may be.

But this psalm was not written for use at funerals particularly. It is, mainly, a song of hope, it is about beginnings more than about an ending. Well, you may say, “James, when we stand in the crematorium chapel and sing ‘The Lord’s my shepherd’, we are thinking about an ending – the life of the one who has died – but also about our life going on without them”. That would be a fair observation, and if it’s the case, then we are singing about ourselves and for ourselves. I’m not being critical here, because funerals are generally about the dead but for the living. Notice the slight mis-match, which occurs when I speak of what funerals are about - about the person who has died, or about ourselves.

Christianity is overwhelmingly concerned with putting oneself in the position of others, and feeling their pain, their suffering, their fears, their vulnerability. It is about compassion. The secular world, particularly in Jesus’s time on earth, but also in ages since then, has often not been much inclined to this. The rule of law is not defined by compassion, and those who think that the road to righteousness is defined by law and by correct ethical behaviour are likely to miss compassion off their route. That is not to say that the law is wrong, but that it is not enough on its own. Think of the trial, the scourging and the crucifixion of Jesus and you won’t find much compassion in it. Think of Jesus’s ministry in Galilee, and it is driven by compassion. So, within the Christian understanding of God’s plan for the world, suffering is shared and is relieved by sharing; your

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suffering is my suffering, and we stand together at the foot of the Cross and share in the suffering of Jesus.

The Lord is my shepherd because God is Jesus’s shepherd and this makes him the shepherd of us all. The Lord, who to the Psalmist was the Great Angel, is actualised for us in the person of Jesus, and Jesus is ever-present through the action of the Holy Spirit.

So, look again at Psalm 23 in that light, and the first impression is that it is a hymn of thanksgiving. I am alright, and as Christians we are alright, because we are in the care of the Lord, who looks after us selflessly and knows each one of us.

I have a book written by an old man who all his adult life was a shepherd in the Scottish Borders. When eventually he retired, he went one day to a livestock market, and in a pen there he saw sheep which he recognized, he said, by their faces. They had years previously been in his flock, and, he added, they knew me by my voice, and came to meet me. To most of us, brought up in towns, a relationship like that with farm animals is not something we have experienced directly, but something we have to imagine. But Jesus’s audience would have known it well, and would have seen immediately that in the relationship lay opportunities for and duties of compassion. It is a two-way thing, and the dynamic of care is beautifully caught in the 1500-year old mosaic which is printed in this service sheet.

Another aspect comes to us via the reading we had earlier from John’s gospel. Jesus takes the model of the flock that belongs to the shepherd, and says, beware criminals who try to usurp the relationship, or climb into it, rather than going by the gate which Jesus keeps. Then he says, in a way so redolent of the story of the shepherd I mentioned a moment ago, that the shepherd calls the sheep by their names, and leads them out, and they follow him, because they know his voice. They will not go with a stranger because they do not know his voice, but will run off.

Jesus describes himself as the authentic shepherd, who has been preceded only by fakes, whom the flock have ignored. He brings life in all its fulness, whereas they dealt only in death. He, uniquely, is prepared to die for the sake of his sheep.

These two readings complement each other very well, but no comment would be complete without considering the role-reversal which is involved in Jesus as the pascal lamb, the lamb that was slain, the lamb of God. There is an obvious contrast here between God, the most powerful being, and the lamb which is a junior, helpless representative of a powerless

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species. Lambs were also animals slaughtered for sacrifice, and therefore, we have the extreme conjunction of God with the subject of sacrifice, and God voluntarily setting aside power and offering himself for sacrifice. In this, the natural order of the world is reversed and the expectation that power will naturally triumph by its own means is confounded.

We have covered a lot of ground here. Psalm 23 gives us firstly the idea that ‘all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well’ because we have a divine shepherd who cares for us. However bad things may become for us, this will still be the case. He guides us in the right way. Even when hostile forces are upon us, he is hospitable and provides for us (‘a table’) and he anoints us, which means that he gives us special recognition. It’s a word which is obscure for us now, but in its time it was full of resonance and suggests friendship and an infusion of divine and supernatural power. It signifies a promise of God’s presence with us.

Secondly, we have the message from John which says that there is only one good shepherd who can truly help us; the rest are fakes and fraudsters. But the relationship has its own security system; the shepherd knows our names, and we know him by his voice. This recognition should help us when we pray.

Finally, we have the many references to ‘the Lamb of God’ in the NT (28 in the book of Revelation alone!). However, I want to pick in particular the words from John 1, about John the Baptist:

“29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

For the Baptist, this was a visionary remark, but for us, who already know the story, it represents a focus of attention on God’s voluntary vulnerability, used to show us how we should live in relation to others.

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S. Vitale, Ravenna, Italy 6th century AD

HYMN StF 481 The Lord’s My ShepherdRecording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGkxpiTmL2s

The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want;He makes me lie in pastures green.He leads me by the still, still waters,His goodness restores my soul.

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Chorus: And I will trust in You alone,And I will trust in You alone,For Your endless mercy follows me,Your goodness will lead me home.

He guides my ways in righteousness,And He anoints my head with oil,And my cup, it overflows with joy,I feast on His pure delights.

And though I walk the darkest path,I will not fear the evil one,For You are with me, and Your rod and staffAre the comfort I need to know.

Stuart Townend (b. 1963) © Bernaddette Farrell © Thankyou Music

Prayers for Intercession

Holy God

Let us look with you at all who suffer today;

The sick, the deaf, the blindVictims of violence, prisoners, psychiatric patientsThe lonely, the aged, the hungry, those who suffer discriminationThose who are afraid, or cannot rest

People who once had the peace we enjoy, but who have it no more.Those who hate themselves, and can see no love in the world.Those for whom your world has lost its glory, and is worthless, for whom life is a chore, its beauties gone, like leaves in the wind.

Let us, who count ourselves your people, let us hollow a space within us, and take into it the suffering people of the world.

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Holy God, open our hearts to them and make us aware of them. Let the compassion of Jesus be in us to welcome them. May someone they meet today show that there is light, that the struggle is worth it. Let your people in their lives speak of God to those who have lost hope.

Make us, and all who love You, a living network, give us the instinct, the will and the spark to do your work. Let your world be touched and healed, and where your people can help in this, give them the grace to do so, and to bring alive again your Spirit in those who suffer. May they feel your blessing.

[Prayers for individuals]Lord, look upon these your children, and all who stand in need today. Bless them all, and keep them in the palm of your hand. Amen.

Be thou my vision StF 545

Recording at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i7FHN07B9U

Be Thou my vision, oh Lord of my heartNaught be all else to me, save that Thou artThou my best thought by day or by nightWaking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise:Be thou my inheritance now and alwaysThou and thou only the first in my heart:High king of heaven, my treasure thou art.

High King of Heaven my victory wonMay I reach heaven's joys, oh, bright heaven's sunHeart of my own heart whatever befallStill be my vision, oh Ruler of all

BLESSINGMay God write his message on your heart,

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Bless and direct you,Then send you out,Living letters of his Word.

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