Welcome to this online service of worship from Mayfield Salibury Parish Church.  The YouTube playlist may be found here or view below.

First Sunday in Lent
 Sunday 21 February 2021

I just realized
that in my imagination
the wilderness is always somewhere else;
a foreign landscape I actively have to enter
in the act of being faithful.

Truthfully,
the wilderness is always where I am
right now
and faith is the courage to stay with it
when I’d rather pretend I am
anywhere else.

Cheryl Lawrie - http://holdthisspace.org.au/

AS A DIVERSE PEOPLE, THE CHURCH GATHERS TO WORSHIP ALMIGHTY GOD

Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan river.
Stained glass window at Church of Our Savior,
(Metropolitan Community Church), Boynton Beach, Florida

Introduction   Revd Dr Sandy Forsyth

Introduction

Be Still for the Presence of the Lord’. ‘Be Still and Know that I am God’. How often have we heard those words, or sang them in a church sanctuary like this beautiful one behind me? But perhaps more importantly, do we have the chance to do it? To be still in the presence of God? Like the story of Martha and her sister Mary in Luke’s gospel, we can spend some days rushing around, being busy, always thinking of other things that need done, the next demand on our time and attention. Or there might be other days, especially in all the challenges we have faced in the past year, when it is just too quiet, the house is silent, and without the sound of the radio or the television, it might just be a little lonely. We want to have some sound even in the background to keep us going, and the time is not right just to sit and contemplate.

This time of Lent calls us to try to find the space to pause and reflect. To be metaphorically in a wilderness place, where Jesus wandered before his earthly ministry and faced the challenge of self-reflection. Not be there for the sake of it, or to feel guilty or overburdened at who we are of what we have done. Not stillness and reflection without a purpose, or as some sort of penance or punishment. But being still to take stock, to make space in our lives for God, to think and reflect on where our faith stands, and on the great mysteries of God and the passion of Christ in Easter Week, a place of renewal, emerging at the other end, embracing once more the joy and the happiness of the resurrection. On this first Sunday of Lent, invite you to be in that place in the next few weeks, to live within it as our quote from Cheryl Lawrie on OfS suggests. Our call to worship that mirrors the journey of Christ through Lent and Holy Week, and of our journey in His footsteps:

Call to Worship

Leader: Where Christ walks
All: We will follow
Leader: When Christ stops
All: we will wait
Leader: When Christ speaks
All: We will listen
Leader: When Christ suffers
All: We will hurt
Leader: When Christ dies
All: We will bow our heads in sorrow
Leader: When Christ rises again
All: We will share his endless joy
Leader: This is the way of Christ
All: His is the way, the truth and the life

Prayer of Praise, Approach and Confession

Loving Lord,
at the beginning of this Lenten season,
we are met with the challenge of handing over
every bit of us that keeps us from You.
To rid ourselves of what clutters our lives,
and all that distracts us from the simple truth
of Your love for us.

Your prophets and your son Jesus called us to repent, to turn from all that blights our life and faith—
to make internal sacrifices instead of external ones.
To seek justice, and love kindness,
and walk humbly with You
each and every one of our days.

If we give anything up for Lent,
then let us at least give up this:
that we might live cease living in ways that disconnect us from You,
ways that cloud our vision and skew our judgments
Perhaps this Lent,
we can let go more of seeking our way, and in trust,
give ourselves more to Your way for us.

So, lead and guide us on this Lenten way.
Help us on a road of self-reflection, that from the ashes and the dust might rise a new spirit within us, a sense of purpose and of strength out of the strain and the exhaustion of this lockdown

Almighty God,
Help us to be honest with ourselves,
To see ourselves as we really are, with all our gifts and talents that you have given us, and all the weakpoints and unpleasant truths that embarress us when we think of them,
Forgive us our wrongs, help us to grow and to change what we would love to change, to ease our emotional pains and to bring us fulfilment.
May we walk with Jesus in this time of Lent toward the hill just outside of Jerusalem.

May we like Him take up our cross and follow,
spending our lives living responsively to You,
just as Christ Himself did.
For that is the faithful way.
We pray to you together in his words:

The Lord's Prayer
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.  

Collect for the Day
Heavenly Father, your Son battled with the powers of darkness, and grew closer to you in the desert: help us to use these days to grow in wisdom and prayer that we may witness to your saving love in Jesus Christ our Lord.

All-Age Address  Hillary Leslie

Good morning everyone! I hope you’ve all been doing well this past week.

Believe it or not, Easter is already right around the corner! Last week we celebrated Pancake Tuesday, which is just before we enter into what’s called the season of Lent in the Christian calendar. Just as Advent is the time in which we prepare for Christmas, Lent is the time in which we prepare for Easter and Christ being with us always. It begins on Ash Wednesday and leads up to Easter Sunday, lasting for 40 days. Can anyone think why Lent is 40 days long? Well, one reason is because that’s how long Jesus journeyed, fasting and resisting temptation in the wilderness.

Lent is a time in our Christian faith where we can look at ourselves and our relationship with God; we learn how to subtract things from our lives so that we can add things which bring us closer to God. This could be by spending less time watching tv and spending more time in prayer, and it can also be challenging ourselves to do things which care for the world and people around us. We GIVE UP what draws us away from God and TAKE UP things that draw us closer to God, which help us to grow in our faith.

As we continue living with Covid-19 and so much already changed and taken away from our daily routines and lives, I think it is a real challenge for us to think about what we could possibly do for Lent this year. But maybe this year we can shift our focus think instead about ways we can care for ourselves, others and the earth, and in doing so we will be made aware of God’s presence all around us. We can look for something new to TAKE UP which will help us feel closer to God this year.

If you’ll remember, a few weeks ago we talked about Jesus’ baptism when God said to Jesus ‘You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.’ In a different translation he uses the word ‘beloved’ the describe Jesus, which is a beautiful word! In the book of Mark after Jesus’ baptism, Jesus is immediately driven into the wilderness where he experiences these 40 days and nights that we think about during Lent. The way that Mark tells these two different stories side-by-side, shows us how Jesus’ baptism prepares him not only for his future ministry and all of the wonderful things he does, but also prepares him for handling the temptations he experienced on his journey while in the wilderness.

We are reminded again by hearing about Jesus’ baptism, that God loves us, too, from the very beginning, and that God will continue to love us through all that we experience – including these ‘wilderness’ moments when we might be feeling really far away from God. God will be with us during this season of Lent, too, as we might give something up, or take up something new to help us be more aware of God’s presence and feel God’s love all around us.

In your activity packs, you will have received a few ideas of things that you can do with your family this Lent. One thing I’m really excited about is the craft materials you’ve gotten for making a stained glass cross. I’ve always loved the beautiful stained glass in our church building, and I hope that these will remind you of worshipping there.

Creating and displaying one of these crosses in your window is a great way to remind ourselves of God’s love for us and the world and the ways that our faith as Christians sustain us through times of difficulty. It’s also a way that we can share a message of hope this Easter with our neighbours and those passing by during this challenging year.

May whatever you choose to do for Lent this year be something that draws you closer to God this year, and helps you become more aware of your own beloved-ness.

Let us pray:

Dear God,
Thank you for this season of Lent,
A time to draw closer to you
as we journey alongside Jesus to the cross.
Thank you for reminding us
Of our own beloved-ness,
And for sustaining us in the wilderness. Amen.

HYMN 336  Christ is our light!

Christ is our light! the bright and morning star
covering with radiance all from near and far.
Christ be our light, shine on, shine on we pray
into our hearts, into our world today.

Christ is our love! baptized that we may know
the love of God among us, swooping low.
Christ be our love, bring us to turn our face
and see in you the light of heaven's embrace.

Christ is our joy! transforming wedding guest!
Through water turned to wine the feast was blessed.
Christ be our joy; your glory let us see,
as your disciples did in Galilee.

Leith Fisher (b.1941)
Words: (c) Leith Fisher. Used by permission.
Sung by Nick Springthorpe

WE LISTEN FOR THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN SCRIPTURE

Reading  Isaiah 42: 1 - 9
NRSVA  Lucia Garland

Reflection    Revd Dr Sandy Forsyth

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

You know how a song sometimes pops into your head and you can’t get it out of there. For some reason, that old Cole Porter song made famous by Bing Crosby was doing that for me this week, and I smiled an ironic smile – ‘don’t fence me in’.

In this past year, we have often been constrained in ever decreasing circles, literally held within smaller spaces of life, seemingly cut off from much that adds to the richness and flavour of our lives. For some, there has been a certain space and freedom from other responsibilities that has led to inspiring new directions and life-changing decisions, but for many the frustrations have become increasingly uncomfortable, and there is an unwelcome weariness, inertia and exhaustion that has crept into our lives. This time of lent is an opportunity to re-charge and reflect. To recognise and embrace ‘wilderness’, not as a place of loneliness and desolation, but to engage with what makes us tick, with the ‘real me’ underneath the brave face we have to employ just to keep on keeping on. As spring casts an eye towards us, to stare towards a sunrise, feel the warmth of the day once more, and appreciate beauty. From the ashes of Lent, there is a spiritual journey towards Easter, from the desolation of the crucified Christ of Good Friday, lying on the Saturday in the dank tomb, comes the glorious risen Christ of Easter Sunday – breathing hope, renewal, resurrection. From the ashes and dust, rises the phoenix of new life, and new hope for all of us.

Lent is a clearout of much that we do not need in our lives, of the baggage that we carry with us, a turning away, a repentance. But where do we start? What do we need to do the job? In this first Sunday of Lent, as we think of Jesus’ baptism by John in the river Jordan, a key passage lights our way: God said, ‘This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’.

De-clutter is a concept that I’ve been well used to over the past couple of months as we moved house. A time to descend on the charity shops with bags of clothes and to hire a skip to finally pass on some of the items that had pointlessly sat there unused for so long, because ‘we might need them some time.’

Out went, for example, the electric egg boiler that could do eight at a time, when will we start our B&B?, the big mit that was a car ice scraper, the broken pedal car that I used as a two year old that I was ‘keeping for the grandchildren’. When you’ve moved house, or even had a dedicated spring clean, I’m sure you can bring to mind your equivalents.

There are not only pointless objects all around us, but there’s plenty of seemingly pointless activities. I wonder if at school, like me, you had to dive down to the bottom of a swimming pool in pyjamas to pick up a brick. Or go cross country running along the canal in freezing sleet. At work, there are sometimes futile tasks that involve drudgery with no apparent outcome other than keeping people busy. As a trainee solicitor, I remember the endless checking of vast commercial lease documents, the sorting out of title deeds, the photocopying - YOU WANT TO SHOUT – WHAT AM IN DOING HERE? WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THIS? 

Pointless activity was also high on the mind of John the Baptist. Verses 13-14: “Then Jesus arrived at the Jordan from Gallilee, and came to John to be baptized by him. John tried to dissuade him. ‘Do you come to me, he said. It is I who need to be baptized by you?

You can feel John’s questioning and confusion. Why are you here? You are the person of whom I’ve been saying ‘the one who comes after me is mightier than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to remove’. This is the Messiah, the Word incarnated from the moment of conception in Mary’s womb, announced to her by the angel Gabriel, celebrated as the son of God at his birth by the shepherds and the Magi. Why in the name does Jesus needs to be baptised? Why do that to God himself? That would be absolutely futile and, well, just pointless.

The site believed to be the location of Jesus’ baptism in present-day Jordan

So why did Jesus go to John at the river Jordan to be baptised? Jesus’ reply to John was a little enigmatic, a bit elusive. Jesus said, ‘let it be so for the present; it is right for us to do all that God requires’. So God required it then – we’re not much further along the trail.

Why did God require Jesus to be baptised? A question that has vexed Christians for two millennia. Well there must have been a point to it surely for Jesus himself. For the purpose of his life, his ministry, his death, otherwise it was indeed a rather meaningless, futile exercise. But also, there must be a point to it for us, in seeing our identity, our goal in this world, mirrored through our own baptism. And maybe, there is a point to it as well in connecting the two – about the bridge that might be built, starting with this very act, between Jesus and us, as the human, incarnated God stands shoulder to shoulder with all humans then and now.

So what might his baptism say about Jesus first of all? At the simplest level, it affirms who Jesus is - ‘this is my beloved son’. It fulfilled what God had said through the prophet Isaiah in our OT passage, in verse 9, . the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.

At the start of Isaiah 42, God said also,. Here is my servant, whom I uphold,my chosen, in whom my soul delights. Words that are echoed here by God. The baptism announces, here is the servant King. Jesus’ baptism is the beginning of his mission on the road to Calvary. It has meaning then for Jesus’ identity when we look at the bigger picture, of the purpose of the whole of that journey, of his ministry, of his death on the cross and resurrection.

That Jesus went forward for baptism also showed that He wholeheartedly endorsed what John the Baptist had been saying about his purpose. By doing it, Jesus added his stamp of approval to John’s call to repentance, to a new way of life leaving the mistakes of the past behind, and a new commitment to God. If Jesus himself would do this, how important, how vital it must be to our lives with God.
And in giving the reason for doing so, remember that reply that Jesus gave, ‘it is right for us to do all that God requires’. How vital and important it must also be for Jesus to live according to God’s will, to act faithfully to God, as an example to us all.

So this baptism speaks to us about Jesus, his identity, and the importance for Him, and us, of the need for repentance and faithfulness to God’s will.

But it speaks too about us, in different ways. For it tells us that in baptism and beyond in life we are also deeply loved by God, and leads us to undertand what that means for our capacity to love other people. I’m sure the words ‘Dearly beloved’ are familiar in various ways.. They’re the start of the phrase, ‘Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…’ And then they might continue, if you’re of a certain vintage like me with the words ‘to get through this thing called life’, the start of the dance song from 1984 ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ by one of the greats we lost a few years back, the musician Prince. Or they continue in the words, from the traditional wedding service, ‘to join together in holy matrimony, this man and this woman’.

We are gathered here today, as dearly beloved. Through our baptism, in our daily faith, in our ongoing trust of God’s promises, God is saying to each one of us too, ‘You are my beloved son, or you are my beloved daughter’. He is saying to each of us now, No matter who you are, what you have done or failed to do, no matter your guilt and your shortcomings, your scars and your regrets, you are deeply loved. It’s an agape love that cannot be fully measured, only felt in the heart It is deep and wide and tall beyond imaging.

To receive that kind of love, to be dearly beloved, is what a child would dream of from a parent. And it’s by no means impossible. I’m sure with some of us, that ideal upbringing is something we did experience as child, or indeed achieved as a parent, at least for the most part. But it’s a messy, complicated world. For the exact opposite also happens, all the time, in families, the world over. Sometimes parents, for whatever reason, maybe not through any fault of their own, just can’t manage to do it as gracefully and lovingly as that.

There are many children who grow up in our world who have never had a parent say to them (either in words, or in looks, or in hugs), “You are my dear Son or my dear daughter, whom I love’, let alone ‘with you I am well pleased.”

The whole Christian gospel is pivoted on this very point, it depends on it: that when the living God looks at us, at every person who is a baptized and believing Christian, he says to us just what he said to Jesus on that day of his baptism in Matthew 3:17. It sometimes seems impossible, especially to people who have never had this kind of support from their earthly parents, but it’s true: God looks at each one of us, and as He says ‘You are my dear, dear child who I love; and I am delighted with you’. For God sees us, not just as we are in ourselves, but in the potential of hope and transformation, as we might be made new, in and through Jesus Christ. That deep and unending bond of love in the Trinity between God the Father and God the Son that is spoken in these very words at Jesus baptism, is the love that God wishes to share with us all.  All that God has given us and will give us, in faith through Christ, is because of the power and strength of His love. In God’s love, our true identity becomes clear, that we are each loved as a child of God, healed, restored and forgiven, no matter who we are, what we have faced or what we have done in the past, by way of contrast there will be a new future.

Let us try now, each of us, for a moment just to think of the intensity of that sentence from Matthew 3:17 and its meaning for us. Put your own name at the start, and reflect quietly on God saying into your ear those very words, both at the time of your baptism and every single day since, “You are my Son or my daughter, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

If we go forward in lockdown and in Lent imagining that God is like someone we might have faced in the past: a school bully, or an angry threatening parent ready to yell at us, to slam the door on us, or dismiss us because we haven’t quite made the grade, we will quite naturally turn our backs on God and walk away at the first whisper of a setback, or a temptation. But if we can begin to believe that the voice which says, “You are my Son or my daughter, whom I love; with you I am well pleased,” is speaking those words clearly to us right now, baptized as we are, and if we begin to believe as a result that heaven might open and the spirit of God might also be upon us, then we will surely go forwards through these times in hope, with our hand held securely by God’s hand in love.

No matter your worries and burdens you carry for yourself and your family, no matter your hopes or fears for the future, no matter how pointless the tasks and challenges of life under lockdown may seem to be, make no mistake that whatever these days will bring you are dearly beloved, held, comforted, carried by God. As God says in our passage in Isaiah 42, Jesus will be a light to all peoples, he will bring captives out of the dungeon where they lie in darkness. ‘Don’t fence me in’, indeed.
Was the baptism of Jesus all as pointless as it might at first seem. As pointless as the things of no purpose that we can so easily acquire? Perhaps, after all, it was not so. Amen.

RESPONSE TO THE SPIRIT OF GOD WITHIN

Organ Voluntary    Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ