Jesus’ sermon on the level: The Upside Down Kingdom.Boris Becker said: ‘I had won Wimbledon twice before, once as the youngest player. I was rich. I had all the material possessions I needed but I had no inner peace.’Jesus’ sermon on the level/plain is delivered to the people when he comes down to the level from praying all night on mountain. Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit and chooses the 12 apostles and they leave everything to follow him. He speaks plainly to them, telling them what they have signed up to! To be poor in spirit means to be humble and teachable.Jesus contrasts the things of earth with the things of heaven. He compares our life on earth with our eternal life yet to come. Material accumulation is superficial because we die and leave it all behind. However, what we learn and how we grow spiritually goes with us into eternity. Jesus tells us not to store up treasure on earth but treasure in heaven. We are in eternity here and now but our journey continues into that yet to come after death.God’s kingdom turns the world’s values upside down. 🙃 Are we humble enough to see the kingdom of God in our lives? Seeing not from our ego’s perspective but trusting in God? Blessed are the humble in spirit for they seek God’s way rather than their own. They may experience poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated, excluded, insulted, and rejected but find satisfaction and even joy in the midst of troubles! They have cultivated the gift of generosity of heart and an attitude of gratitude. Generosity of heart is at the centre of our faith. C.S. Lewis defined Christianity as ‘a kind of giving’. Generosity is a way of living by the practice of mutual generosity: giving and receiving and sharing and reciprocating. Jeremiah tells us that God searches the heart and examines the mind. He says the heart is deceitful and beyond cure! He asks who can understand it? He goes on to say that by living for ourselves we dwell in the parched places of the desert. We turn inwards but cannot provide what we need for ourselves, the living water of life, bubbling up like a spring. Jesus gives us that living water so that we will never be thirsty again.Paul’s message to the Corinthians about eternal life is simple, ‘that Christ died for our sins, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures’. The penalty for sin has been paid and power of sin is removed because of the resurrection. This is the certainty of our hope for the future. Our faith is not irrational but grounded on the event of the resurrection. He gives some of the evidence: 1. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection were written about before he was born.2. Christ’s appearance to Peter, to the twelve, to 500 others, to James, to all the apostles, and finally, to Paul himself.3. Without the resurrection our faith would be without hope.In relationship with our Father God we have access to heavenly things. It is a different way of living on the level, based on eternal values. Jeremiah says: ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit’.As disciples of Jesus we are called to seek first the kingdom of God by hungering and thirsting for spiritual things, for weeping with compassion, and all else will be given to us. Angela Stewart (lay minister)
Lord, direct our thoughts, and teach us to pray. Lift up our hearts to worship you in spirit and in truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.‘Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.' (Psalm 1:1-3)Hymn: Make me a channel of your peace...Jeremiah 17: 5-10; 1 Corinthians 15:12-20The Spirit of the Lord fills the world and knows our every word and deed. Let us confess our sins: Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we confess that we have sinned in thought, word and deed. We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. In your mercy forgive what we have been, help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be; that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God. Amen.May the God of love bring us back to himself, forgive us our sins, and assure us of his eternal love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.Prayer for the day: Eternal God, whose Son went among the crowds and brought healing with his touch: help us to show his love, in your Church as we gather together, and by our lives as they are transformed into the image of Christ our Lord. Amen.Luke 6: 17-26Please see the Message from the Minister.Let us join in prayer, asking for the light of the Lord to be known to everyone:We pray for the members of St Peter’s Church, that we will grow in faith and service;We pray for our planet, that all people will thrive and work together in peace;We pray for our friends, families and neighbours - that we may build relationships;We pray for people who are sick or suffering, for God’s healing touch to be known;We pray for the departed, that all who mourn will be comforted.Let us pray as Jesus taught us: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.Hymn: Will you come and follow me if I but call your name...May Christ’s holy, healing, enabling Spirit be with us and guide us on our way at every change and turn; and may the blessing of God Almighty who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon us and remain with us always.Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen.
This year we will mark the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. Please join us for a reflective service on Tuesday 25th February at 7:00pm in the church.You are welcome to attend, whoever you are.We are also collecting items for North Norfolk Aid for Ukraine. For more information please see our Ukraine display.The service will include prayers, reflection and music.We will be welcoming Duncan Baker (former MP) to talk about his experience visiting Ukraine to bring aid from the UK. The exhibition in the church can be viewed when we are open to visitors, between 10am and 3pm daily, except for Wednesday mornings. (Please note that we will also be closed to visitors on Monday morning 10th February.)
It’s great to be able to go out for walks again, after a period of ill health which meant I was housebound over Christmas. I usually put pictures of my daily walks on my Facebook page, and describe the experience in words too. I started to do it in lockdown. Lots of people liked it - not only friends in cities who couldn’t go out, but also people who used to do the same walks in the past but who can’t do so any more. The routes are often the same, but there are always differences in the weather, the skies and the seasons.While I couldn’t go out I found myself looking at the pictures of some of the walks I posted earlier. In my mind I was taking those tracks again, feeling the breeze on my face and seeing the sea and the skies and the flowers.Pictures of the past came alive in the present! It was a joy to seek them out.It’s the same with stories we read from the Bible. Those today came alive once again. In the gospel story Jesus was sitting in a boat to teach the crowds, who were pressing on him to hear the word of God. Then he sent Peter out to put the nets into deep water, and both boats returned with vast numbers of fish! After that Jesus called Peter to follow him. We’re familiar with the pictures and description, we’ve probably read this many times before. The story is the same but there are differences in us, in the generation we live in, our life experiences and maturity, as well as in the seasons of time since it was written. Now we’re seeing it afresh on a new day, and so we enjoy it again, and maybe see things in the story which we didn’t notice before.I suggest too that God is speaking to us afresh through those words, showing us new things to ponder upon, as this is one of the ways in which we encounter God.Similarly with the story we heard from Isaiah, who describes his wonderful vision of the Lord with seraphs in attendance - the imagery is fabulous! One of the seraphs touches his lips to cleanse him. Then God says ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ Isaiah replies ‘Here am I. Send me.’ It touches me again every time I read this story. Does it touch you too?And once again the words come alive that we heard in Corinthians. Like Paul, the good news has been passed on to us. We’ve received it and said yes to Jesus. We stand in our faith. We too have been called and we serve, by the grace of God, doing our best to help to build up the body of Christ - Paul’s constant message - which means encouraging one another.God speaks to us today as we read the scriptures prayerfully. That’s why the books of the Bible were repeatedly copied and passed down from generation to generation, over thousands of years. It’s why they were put together by the early Church. It’s why the Bible is considered to be holy.There is so much in it! It’s like a photo album of God’s interaction with human beings since the beginning of time! Pictures of the past which become alive in the present. It’s a joy when we seek them out. Some people find it helpful to join a Bible study group. We’ve got books in our Library of Inspiration if we want to delve more. We can also simply read from the Bible at home and pray. We’re like the crowds who were pressing on Jesus. We too want to hear the word of God for ourselves. We can do so. His voice speaks again and again through the words of the sacred scriptures.And as Andrew reminded us last week, ‘we can encourage people to meet with God in their prayers and in their daily lives … For those of us who are elderly, age does not guarantee wisdom it is only when we allow God to be the centre of our lives and then allow him to guide and change us to be his disciples in this complex world.’Amen.Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister