Worship for Sunday 1st September 2024, by Rev. Catharine Hughes

This Sunday at United Didsbury we will be celebrating our Church Anniversary (which is 1 year for the church or 71 years for the building) and welcoming three people into membership. It is also the start of a new Connexional year, and the first day of our new North West England District (NWED). It is also the beginning of Creationtide, when the church thinks about all God has created and our joy and responsibilities to it.

This service therefore celebrates all that God has created and done for us, and all that is to come.

Call to worship

We wake up in the morning and see the sunrise:

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

We are warmed by the sun; the rain cleanses all creation:

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

We watch the moon light up the night; we fall asleep to the lullabies of the stars:

How majestic is your name in all the earth!

Hymn: STF 83 – Praise my soul, the king of heaven

Praise my soul, the king of heaven;

To his feet thy tribute bring,

Read some, healed, restored, forgiven,

Who like thee his praise should sing?

Praise him! Praise him!

Praise the everlasting King!

Praise him for his grace and favour

To his people in distress;

Praise him, still the same for ever,

Slow to chide and swift to bless.

Praise him! Praise him!

Glorious in his faithfulness.

Father-like he tends and spares us;

Well our feeble frame he knows;

In his hands he gently bears us,

Rescues us from all our foes.

Praise him! Praise him!

Widely as his mercy flows.

Angels in the height adore him;

Ye behold him face to face;

Sun and moon, bow down before him

Dwellers all in time and space.

Praise him! Praise him!

Praise with us the God of grace!

Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)

Prayers

You call us to be you children;

you gift us to serve all people;

you send us to proclaim your good news to all:

glory to you, Creator of all that is new.

When you are lonely, we have a chance to visit you;

when you are hungry, we can share our food with you;

when you are naked, we can give you the clothes off our back;

when you are sick, we can nurse you back to health:

glory to you, Saviour of the world.

You whisper in our ears, so we may praise you;

you fill our souls, so we may serve you;

you lead us into the kingdom, so we may live with you:

glory to you, Spirit of gentleness.

Glory to you,

God in Community, Holy and One.

Let us confess our failures, as well as our hopes, as we begin this new year…

God of every moment,

we admit that we always find the time to fill our stomachs, but not our souls.

We spend hours watching television but not the wonders of your creation.

We arrange outings with our friends, yet ignore your invitation to sit and talk.

We make resolutions to change every aspect of our lives, except for that which pertains to you.

Forgive us, God of glory, and make us new.

In the moments to come,

remind us that if there is indeed ‘a time for everything’

then we do have those moments to spend in grace,

seeking hope, finding joy,

and for a relationship with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

[silence]

Assurance of pardon:

Our words, our thoughts, our deeds are in the past.

Today we begin anew.

Today, and every day, God offers us life and hope.

Here, now, forever – we are forgiven and healed.

Let this be the year we will live as such people.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.

Reading: James 1.17-27 [NIV]

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Listening and doing

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.

Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Reading: Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23 [NIV]

That which defiles

The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market-place they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’

He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

‘“These people honour me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.”

You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.’

Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’ For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’

HYMN: STF 102 – For the beauty of the earth

For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth

Over and around us lies:

Gracious God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.

For the beauty of each hour

Of the day and of the night,

Hill and vale, and tree and flower,

Sun and moon and stars of light:

Gracious God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.

For the joy of ear and eye,

For the heart and mind’s delight,

For the mystic harmony

Linking sense to sound and sight:

Gracious God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister, parent, child,

Friends on earth, and friends above,

Pleasures pure and undefined:

Gracious God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.

For each perfect gift and sign

Of your love so freely given,

Graces human and divine,

Flowers of earth and buds of heaven:

Gracious God, to you we raise this our sacrifice of praise.

Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917)

Reflection:

Have you ever been in a church where it was said, ‘But we’ve always done it that way?’

Tradition is a wonderful thing. It gives us structure and confidence. It enables us to remember past celebrations or gatherings. It can give us imagery that sustains us through the periods of normal mundanity.

It is surprising how quickly tradition becomes established. I was listening to Test Match Special from the recent test at Old Trafford. One of the commentators, Alex Hartley, was hosting a barbecue that evening. ‘It’s a tradition at the Manchester Test,’ she declared, only for Jonathan Agnew to point out that it had only happened once before, so that hardly made it a tradition.

The Pharisees knew tradition. They knew the Law. The disciples had not followed the cleansing rituals needed before eating. Jesus, as always, turns things on their head, criticising the Pharisees for doing what humans do rather than what God wants. Their ‘law’ came from rather tradition than their hearts.

And what does God want? Both James and Mark tell us, in different ways: live lives that reflect the scriptures, that are good and honest rather than evil and immoral. James tells us to keep a tight rein on our tongues, holding back from speaking. ‘Quick to listen, slow to speak.’ This is not always easy! The mnemonic pictured below might help.

Before you speak: THINK. Is it… True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?

I suspect James would have been sharing this image widely!

Perhaps the truest followers of Jesus actually ask, ‘Why?’ Why do we do this? Why is the candle lit at the start of the service? Why do we stand to sing? Why are there flowers on the altar? Why do we meet at [insert time here!]? There may be very valid reasons (after all, it is not wrong for the disciples to have clean hands before eating!) but tradition can grow stale and meaningless. It can detract from the true purpose of serving and worshiping God.

What truly matters is what comes from our hearts. Whether it comes as words or actions, it is not our tradition that God will smile upon but the outworking of our faith. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

To THINK about:

What Truths do you take from these readings?
What have you found Helpful?
What have you found Inspiring?
What habits is it Necessary for you to change?
How can you be more Kind?

HYMN: STF 707 – Make me a channel of your peace

Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me bring your love;

Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord;

And where there’s doubt, true faith in you:

O Master, grant that I may never seek

So much to be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved, as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope;

Where there is darkness, only light;

And where there’s sadness, ever joy:

Make me a channel of your peace.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

In giving unto all that we receive,

And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

Sebastian Temple (1928-1997) from the Prayer of St Francis

Prayers of intercession

(adapted from Week 1 Prayers, Season of Creationtide 2024, EcoCongregationScotland.org)

Dear God, today may you sustain and encourage

Protesters who put themselves on the line

because rulers fear to act with urgency.