Family Worship
Andy Beard
Luke 5:1-11 Family Worship Ideas

A Complicated Joy

Days like ‘Mother’s Day’ are complicated celebrations that seem to underline in so many ways the heart-breaking tensions of living in a fallen world... 

 

The idea of a ‘Mum’ was God’s.  And yet – like in so much of our world – His vision is tragically marred.  The complicated reality of a world that ignores Him trips us up, and hinders our celebration of God’s idea.  In so many ways today can be a day of pain.  Memories of our mothers are not always joyous, but can be scarred by abandonment, neglect, betrayal or suffering.  Relationships with our mums today are not always straightforward, and can be the cause of ongoing frustration and tears.  There are those who have so desperately wanted to be mums, but the circumstances of their lives have meant those hopes and dreams lie broken and unfulfilled.  Many feel judged.  Some are profoundly aware of their failure as mums on a day to day basis; for others ‘Mothering Sunday’ is an agonising reminder of decisions we would give anything to go back and make again.  Some have endured miscarriages, still births or have buried their children, and today opens afresh the wounds of loss.  Others find in their children a source of tremendous confusion and grief.  Even the most wholehearted and joyous celebration of Mothering Sunday will be tainted with sorrow. 

As Christians we are to ‘mourn with those who mourn’ (Rom.12:15).  Our focus should be on the broken, the wounded, the sinner and the sinned against.  This is righteous.  Our faith gives us the courage to face life as it really is, and not to have to pretend.  Yet the same verse (Rom.12:15) also commands us to ‘rejoice with those who rejoice’.  Our concern for the wounded can often lead us to forego the rejoicing and to mute our celebration.  Or we can lose balance the other way, and disregard the wounded in thoughtless rejoicing.  But this is not the way of the Scriptures.

 

As Christians, we are to honour those who are worthy of honour, and give them the recognition they deserve (Rom.13:7).  This is rarely done in our world, and the Church dare not follow suit.  Churches must maintain a holy and healthy balance.  We cry out to God both to heal the wounded, and in gratitude for what is worthy of honour; both for grace to cover our failure and in praise for when God has enabled us to be faithful in our calling.

 

Only at the Cross can we find the resources to maintain this balance.  Only here can we learn to look beyond ourselves and our own situation, and to enter into the experience of another with such total empathy, so that those who mourn can rejoice with those who rejoice, and those who rejoice can mourn with those who mourn.  The integrity of neither is compromised.  For us all, we may find that as we obey His call, God is at work in us far more than we had anticipated.

 

And as we confront the complicated nature of today’s celebration of motherhood, we find our hearts aching again for the holy simplicity of the New Creation, when ‘there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Rev.21:4).  This is our future in Christ, and on that day our joy will no longer be complicated, or tainted.  It will be complete in and through Him, and the fulfilment of His work.  That is our hope in Christ.  And it is a hope that radically relativizes everything in this old, passing age.  It relativizes both the joy and sorrow, and ironically perhaps even the institution of motherhood, and of our love for our mothers.

 

Passages like Mark 10:29-30 and Luke 14:26 relate the disturbing words of Jesus.  His teaching calls us to a total allegiance to Christ that undermines even our love for the one who bore and nursed us.  Our love for ‘mum’ (and her love for us), and the relationship we may enjoy with her (and that she enjoys with us) must be understood in the context of our much deeper love for Christ and a much more compelling relationship with Him.  Ultimately we are delivered from this present age and delivered into the Kingdom of Heaven, where there is no Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or free, or I wonder, mother or child…  while our citizenship is in heaven, our pilgrimage remains through this old creation and this old age.  While here, we are called to ‘honour our … mother’, but only in such a way that truly we are honouring Christ.  Neither we nor our mothers should expect more than this.  Perhaps this is the most complicated thing of all.

In Christ,

Mark

 

DTP To be a Christian

This week’s homework is to get hold of a copy of ‘To Be a Christian’, an Anglican Catechism, published by Crossway. If you want to buy a hard copy, here are the details. In the UK, you can only get it through Amazon or W.H.Smith. Or you can order it direct from Crossway.com

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-6677-6

It is also available online as PDF for free:

https://anglicanchurch.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/To-Be-a-Christian.pdf

Once you have a copy, read through Questions 36-120 at your leisure. This section covers the Apostle’s Creed which we are considering in the DTP at the moment.

Getting ready for Sunday?

As we work our way towards Sunday and our service of Divine Worship, and our reflecting together on the First Commandment; as we pray for those who will be leading and preaching, running Sunday Groups etc.; as we pray that the Spirit would be working in us and preparing us for all He will expose us to this Lord’s Day…

As we do all that, here is a sentence or two from Tertullian - an early Christian leader in North Africa during the Second Century. He wrote a short booklet ‘On Idolatry’, and it opened with this:

“The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgement, is idolatry…”.

Puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?

A 1700 year old challenge…

We’ve been reading a great book as a family over the last few weeks. It was written quite a while ago, and in the part we’ve just read, the author is defending the Christian belief in the resurrection. I wonder how you would justify believing that Jesus was raised from the dead? I found this section pretty challenging. Partly because it is so completely different from how I would argue that Christ had risen; and partly because I’m not sure these arguments would sound particularly credible on my lips. This is what he had to say:

“Well then, look at the facts of the case. The Saviour is working mightily among us. Everyday He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world to accept His faith and to be obedient to His teaching … Does a dead man prick the consciences of men, so that they throw all the traditions of their fathers to the winds and bow before the teaching of Christ? If He remained dead, how is it that He makes the living to cease from their activities: the adulterer from his adulttery, the murderer from murdering, the unjust from avarice, while the profane and godless man becomes religious? If He did not rise, but is still dead, how is it that He routs and persecutes and overthrows the false gods, whom unbelievers think are alive, and the evil spirits whom they worship? … We are agreed that a dead person can do nothing: yet the Saviour works mightily every day, drawing men to religion, persuading them to virtue, teaching them about immortality, quickening their thirst for heavenly things, revealing the knowledge of the Father, inspiring strength in the face of death, manifesting Himself to each, and displacing the irreligion of idols; while the gods and evil spirits of the unbleievers can do none of these things… By the sign of the cross, all magic is stayed, all sorcery confounded, all the idols are abandoned and deserted, and all senseless pleasure ceases, as the eye of faith looks up from earth to heaven. Shall we call Christ dead who accomplishes all this? Or shall we call death dead? No room for doubt remains therefore, concerning the resurrection of His body.

(Athanasius, De Inc. 5:30-31)

What a compelling series of arguments. Our effectiveness in evangelism, and the destruction of sin in the lives of believers, the courage of the martyrs, the desire for heavenly things, and the self-evident difference between Christianity and other religions… that’s how you know Christ lives amongst us!

I don't often recommend the BBC, but...

I think you’ll find the recent Nolan Investigates helpful, informative and disturbing in equal measure. It is being heralded as a groundbreaking piece of investigative journalism. Whether it is worthy of such accolade, I’ll leave you to decide! Nolan’s podcast looks at the influence Stonewall has in public institutions across the UK, and talks to a range of voices with a view on sex, gender and identity. It’s always helpful to know wht’s going on in the world around us!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09yjmph/episodes/downloads

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what do Christians believe about all this... and what difference does it make to discipleship?

Part of what we’re doing over this term is helping you to find resources that will help you to think through the issues of gender, sexuality, marriage and identity. If you are thinking thorugh the arguments and claims and counter-claims about what Christians believe, and what our culture is increasingly committing itself to believing; or if you are struggling to know how to tackle these issues in terms of your own discipleship and experience; or are unsure about how to talk to others, here are a couple of websites that might be help…

if you haven’t looked into True Freedom Trust yet: https://truefreedomtrust.co.uk/

Living Out: https://www.livingout.org/

here’s an American site that speaks to many of these questions: https://www.centerforfaith.com/

Hope they help…

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15 minutes of 'Sunday Morning Live'

If you’d like a quick and accessible introduction to the different perspectives on LLF, here is a short panel discussion from last Sunday’s BBC Sunday Morning Live. I’ve taken the video from the blog of one of the participants, Ian Paul. Hope it helps. It includes a contribution from a Methodist minister. As you may be aware, the Methdoist Conference has voted overwhelmingly to permit its ministers to conduct same-sex marriages in its churches and buildings.

BRT Breakfast: Numbers

Sorry about the tech glitches - I’ve had a crack at editing them out in the recording… enjoy!

Just a quick note about the fact that throughout I refer to the OT people of God as the Church. I do that because in books like Numbers, that is how the Bible refers to the people. In the old Greek translation of the Bible (the Spetuagint, which was kind of the NIV of its day) the word used to describe the people collectively is ‘ekklesia’ - which throughout the NT is translated as ‘Church’. In the OT it is usually translated in English editions of the Bible as ‘congregation’ or ‘community’. I think translating it consistently hels us see the deep connections and continuity that exists between the people of God in the O&NT.

Hope it helps…

Song Words for Easter Morning

Easter Morning Song Sheet

Thine be the glory First note: G Key: C

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son!

Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

Kept the folded grave clothes here Thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son

Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won!

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb

Lovingly, He greets us; scatters fear and gloom!

Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,

For her Lord now liveth: Death hath lost its sting!

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son!

Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

No more we doubt Thee, Glorious Prince of life

Life is naught without Thee; Aid us in our strife:

Make us more than conquerors through Thy deathless love

Bring us safe through Jordan, To Thy home above!

Thine is the glory, risen conquering Son!

Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

See what a Morning First note: C Key: C

See what a morning, gloriously bright

With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;

Folded the grave-clothes Tomb filled with light,

As the angels announce Christ is risen!

See God’s salvation plan,

wrought in love, Borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,

Fulfilled in Christ, the Man,

for He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping: ‘Where is He laid?

As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;

Hears a voice speaking, calling her name:

It’s the Master, the Lord raised to life again!

The voice that spans the years,

Speaking life, stirring hope, Bringing peace to us,

Will sound till He appears,

For He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,

Through the Spirit Who clothes faith with certainty,

Honour and blessing, glory and praise

To the King crowned With power and authority!

And we are raised with Him,

Death is dead, love has won Christ has conquered;

And we shall reign with Him,

For He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!

In Christ Alone First note: A Key: G

In Christ alone my hope is found,

He is my light, my strength, my song

This Cornerstone, this solid Ground

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My Comforter, my All in All

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! - who took on flesh,

Fullness of God in helpless babe.

This gift of love and righteousness,

Scorned by the ones He came to save

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

This is the power of Christ in me

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny

No power of hell, no scheme of man,

Can ever pluck me from His hand

Till He returns or calls me home

Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Crown Him with many Crowns First note: C Key: G

Crown him with many crowns, The Lamb upon his throne;

Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns All music but its own:

Awake, my soul, and sing Of him who died for thee,

And hail him as thy matchless king Through all eternity.

Crown him the Son of God Before the worlds began,

And ye, who tread where He hath trod, Crown him the Son of Man;

Who every grief hath known That wrings the human breast,

And takes and bears them for His own, That all in him may rest.

Crown him the Lord of life Who triumphed o'er the grave,

And rose victorious in the strife For those he came to save;

His glories now we sing Who died, and rose on high.

Who died, eternal life to bring And lives that death may die.

Crown him of lords the Lord, Who over all doth reign

Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, For ransomed sinners slain,

Now lives in realms of light, Where saints with angels sing

Their songs before him day and night, Their God, Redeemer, king.

Crown him the Lord of heaven, Enthroned in worlds above;

Crown him the king, to whom is given The wondrous name of Love,

Crown him with many crowns, As thrones before him fall.

Crown him, ye kings, with many crowns, For He is King of all.

church, race, mission

As a leaked report from the Church of England suggests a 30 per cent quota for BAME candidates on its leadership programme and the implementing of anti-racism training, here is a healthy (healthier?) and stimulating discussion on some of the questions surrounding Church and Race in the UK…