Sunday Service 21st July

Rules to follow?

21/7/24

Call to worship

Hymn 755: Be still and know

Time for all : Peter

Hymn 792: Our God is a God who makes friends

Reading: Mark 2: 18-28 Gil

Prayer

Hymn 485: Dear Lord and Father of mankind

Sermon

Prayer

Hymn 556: I need thee every hour

Benediction

Welcome to our meditation for 21 st of July.

There has always been a tension in religious societies about what rules to follow.

In our reading today we have the Pharisees and the followers of John the Baptist

following one set of rules, and Jesus and his disciples following another. Jesus defends

his stance.

And it is tempting to say that the Pharisees were too stuffy, they were all about following

rules, but we have rules as well and we are not keen if they are broken. Imagine some

drunk coming into the church in the middle of the sermon

and starting to badly sing some hymn that he half remembers from childhood.

Would we be upset that our worship had been disturbed and ask him to leave,

or would we go with the flow and join him in his singing?

The really tough question that comes from that would be, which action would Jesus be

happier with?

We will look at that after our reading and prayer from Gil.

Sermon

1

If we are not too careful then sometimes we jump to conclusions.

That is especially true if the conclusions that we come to are ones we already agree

with.

So our passage today.

We have people complaining to Jesus.

So already in our head the conclusion we come to is that anyone who disagrees with

Jesus is a bad person, they are automatically in the wrong.

They complain about the disciples, and Jesus, and that they are not fasting.

We have already got it in our head that these are bad people, trying to undermine Jesus

ministry, so their motives are already wrong.

So whatever Jesus says is true, and those that are fasting are in the wrong.

It is obvious to us that those Pharisees were just wrong and only followed rules.

We need to be free of those rules.

Jesus frees us from all those rules.

But what if our conclusions are wrong?

Let me give you a scenario.

It’s Christmas Eve.

It is a service that you have been looking forward to for months.

You have sung a few Christmas carols and your mind is in a good place.

Earlier your mind was a hub of activity.

You had been wrapping presents, getting what food ready that you could for the feast

that will take place for the next day.

With your brain so active, so rushed. God had seemed far away.

‘Where was Christ in your Christmas?’ you had asked yourself.

And then you had come to the Christmas Eve service,

By the time you had finished singing ‘Still the night’ your brain was in a better place, a

more reflective place.

Your heart is less thinking of how you can make sure that the next day goes perfectly,

and more thinks about how you can show God’s love to all those round the table you

will share the next day.

You are in a place where you feel close to God.

Did I tell you that there is a pub right across the road from the church?

Did I tell you that at quarter past midnight that pub closes and all these drunks pour out

of the pub into a cold wet night?

Did I tell you that just at that moment where you are close to God they start to pour into

the church because it is warm and dry and want to start singing a very off-key, very ill

remembered version of ‘Once in royal David’s city.’

Did I tell you that this is the third year in a row that this has happened?

What do you do if you are the church leadership?

Do you put bouncers on the door to stop them disturbing the worship?

1

For many years that is exactly the problem churches faced, and that was the solution

many churches came to.

What if Jesus them came up to you and condemned the church for their actions?

‘Why are you imposing all those rules on who can and who can’t come in and worship

me?’ Jesus asks,

‘Is this not the prodigal son that has returned home? Shouldn’t you be celebrating his

return rather than condemning him because he has disturbed your worship?’

‘So what if this guy is so drunk that he won’t even remember this tomorrow, that doesn’t

matter, what matters is this night he is in God’s house.’

How do you feel about Jesus condemning you?

And all that comes from us jumping to conclusions that we set at the start.

That Jesus is talking to enemies that are wrong and have to be put in their place.

Because how we judge those enemies, is how we will be judged ourselves.

So let’s reread this.

On one occasion the followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees were fasting.

Let’s start off with another presumption. Let’s presume that Jesus wasn’t their enemy.

For a start Jesus was the cousin of John the Baptist, so we can presume that they got

along.

Jesus often had disagreements with the Pharisees, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t

care about them.

I have so many disagreements with my children, I argue with them because I care about

them, not because I hate them.

And just because I argue with them about some of their decisions doesn’t mean that I

argue with them about all their decisions.

Maybe Jesus was the same with the Pharisees.

Anyway, the scene is set. The followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees are

fasting, and Jesus and his disciples aren’t.

Let’s read on...

Some people came to Jesus and asked him,’ Why...’

‘Some people’ it doesn’t say followers of John the Baptist or Pharisees. It says, ’Some

people’.

Every other time that the Pharisees or the followers of John the Baptist have a question

for Jesus the Bible says, ‘Some Pharisees came to Jesus and asked...’

‘Some followers of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked...’

But not this time, this time it says, ‘Some people...’

So it is safe to say that it wasn’t Pharisees or followers of John the Baptist.

Why is this important?

Because we are some people.

This is us that is asking Jesus this question.

1

Why? Because we are confused.

This is a very basic question they are asking...

How do we get close to God?

We want to get close to God?

Those Pharisees, they know their Bible, better than us, and to us they seem to be closer

to God than us, and they are fasting, does that make them close to God?

Those followers of John the Baptist, they are so committed to what they believe, much

more committed than us, and they seem to be closer to God than us, and they are

fasting, does that make them closer to God?

Jesus, we think you are wonderful, more wonderful than us, and you seem really close

to God, closer than we feel, but you and your disciples are not fasting, so does not

fasting make you closer to God?

And Jesus goes into these parables about putting right things together.

If you want to patch a torn dress, make sure that the cloth is the same age.

So if it is an old dress make sure that the patch is from another old piece of clothing.

I hadn’t realised before that I had got that the wrong way round.

I had confused the new wine into the old wineskins, and the in my head somehow made

it a new dress and old cloth.

Somehow in my head I had made it a new dress, and people were trying to force an old

cloth onto the new dress, but the old cloth had shrunk and torn the new dress. I had

forced the passage into my preconceptions and they were just factually wrong, the old

cloth wouldn’t shrink.

Because Jesus doesn’t talk about a new dress, this is an old dress, and you don’t put a

new cloth onto it because the new piece shrinks and destroys the old dress.

Maybe what Jesus was actually saying was this.

The followers of John the Baptist and the Pharisees have found that fasting helps them

get closer to God.

As they fast they appreciate what they are missing,

they are reminded of how much they need God for the basics,

they become grateful for what they have and what God gives them, and that helps them

get closer to God.

Just now my disciples are in a different place.

They are seeing the wonder of outreach, of helping people who are in need, that

reminds them of how much God helps them, gives them strength and that helps them

feel closer to God.

They are telling people far from God that God loves them,

and that reminds them in those parts of the day that they feel far from God that God is

reaching out to them as well, and that helps them feel closer to God.

1

It’s not about one ritual gets you to God, and another one takes you far from God,

if that was the case then we would be worshiping the ritual

and not the God that the ritual is pointing to.

Rituals are only aides. Find the one that suits you and use it.

Like old cloths mend an old coat.

Like new wine sits best in a new wine cloth.

Find what works for you, and then use it to get closer to God.

Because that is what really matters.

Are we growing closer to God?

If we are growing closer to God then we are becoming more caring, more patient, more

tolerant, more loving.

And that is what is important, how we get there doesn’t matter.

So for some that will be using aides like Bible study notes.

For others it will mean sitting in a room listening to Gregorian Chants.

For others sitting with friends discussing the ins and outs of how theology touches the

world in practical ways.

For others it will mean walks of reflection in the hills or on a beach.

For others sitting in the church in quiet prayer after the service

For others sharing their problems with others at the cafe.

For others, maybe lighting a candle,

and as they reflect on the flame they reflect on the light God is putting in their lives,

the people that support them, the strength that has seen them through difficult times in

the past,

or maybe they reflect on the darkness, and where they need to take the light into the

lives of others, to help them, to offer them hope,

To put it simply...

maybe Jesus is trying to tell us that the ritual doesn’t matter.

What matters is that our rituals help us grow closer to God.

And if they don’t, maybe it’s time to find another ritual.

1

Let us pray

God of all love,

we come before you with thanks in our hearts

for the possibility of the Sabbath rest you offered to us—a day set apart for worship,

reflection, and rejuvenation.

We thank you for the gift of community,

where we can find support, encouragement, and fellowship with one another.

We thank you for the times of rest and refreshment you provide us,

whether it be through moments of solitude and quiet reflection

or through the joy and laughter we share with loved ones in community.

Compassionate God,

We pray for those who are experiencing spiritual fatigue and burnout, feeling

disconnected from you and from others. Unsure what to do and how to do it.

Renew their spirits, O God,

and draw them close to you in moments of prayer, worship, and reflection.

Surround them with a community of faith that can offer support and encouragement.

We pray for those who are experiencing emotional turmoil and distress, feeling

overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, or grief.

Comfort them in their pain, O God, and bring them the peace and rest that only you can

provide.

Surround them with loving and compassionate caregivers who can offer support and

encouragement.

We pray for our world,

torn apart by division, violence, and injustice.

Grant us all the restorative power of your love and grace,

and inspire us to work together towards a world where all may experience rest,

refreshment, and wholeness.

Help us, O God,

to surrender our burdens and anxieties to you,

trusting in your promise to provide for our needs.

Grant us the grace to embrace the rest and refreshment you offer us, finding our

strength and renewal in your presence.

Guide us. O God,

to live lives of Sabbath rest,

embracing the gift of refreshment you offer us each and every day.

This we ask in Jesus name.

Amen.