Worship for Sunday 27th October 2024, by Rev. Ken Stokes

Lord, have mercy upon us! 
Christ, have mercy upon us!
The Lord knows our needs before we ask.
Let us worship the Lord!

Hymn StF 116 Sing for God’s glory

  1. Sing for God’s glory that colours
    the dawn of creation,
    racing across the sky,
    trailing bright clouds of elation
    sun of delight
    succeeds the velvet of night,
    warming the earth’s exultation.

  2. Sing for God’s power that shatters
    the chains that would bind us,
    searing the darkness of fear and despair that could blind us.
    touching our shame
    with love that will not lay blame
    reaching out gently to find us.

  3. Sing for God’s justice
    disturbing each easy illusion,
    tearing down tyrants
    and putting our pride to confusion;
    lifeblood of right,
    resisting evil and slight,
    offering freedom’s transfusion.

  4. Sing for God’s saints,
    who have travelled faith’s journey before us,
    who in our weariness give us their hope to restore us;
    in them we see
    the new creation to be,
    spirit of love made flesh for us.

Kathy Galloway (b.1952)

Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving
Thank you, Lord, for your wakefulness,
always alert for those whom others disregard.
Thank you, Lord, for your watchfulness,
looking out for the lowly, the despised.
Thank you, Lord, for your justice and mercy,
freely given wherever there is need.
We bow down, for we are not worthy. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Lord, we confess that we think we know your business.
We know who, and what, you will be bothered with,
and we seek to keep all else at bay.
Forgive us for casting ourselves in the role of the powerful.
Lord, have mercy upon us. Amen.

Gospel of Mark Chapter 10:46-52 
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.   When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”   Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”   Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”   So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus.   Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”   Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

When I read the story of Bartimaeus the man who is blind who begs at the gate of Jericho. My mind goes first to my father who has been blind for a number of years. My father suffers from macular degeneration he can see little, yet this does not prevent him from living his life on his own terms. I often tell people that my father plays a whole round of golf twice a week. He cannot see the ball when he hits the shot and relies totally on muscle memory to guide each shot he plays. He has no idea where the ball goes and has to rely on his brother to guide him to the next shot. It is remarkable thing a blind golfer. But it typifies my father’s approach to life, he utterly rejects all pity. Of course I know that my father is blessed with a decent pension, a devoted brother, a loving wife, a determination to make use of any technological aid he can get his hands on and a stoical nature that simply refuses to be defeated by anything or anyone.

Of course all people who are blind are not blessed with these resources and sometimes other people can make blindness a far more difficult condition to contend with.

At the time of Jesus blindness was often a condition that was made much harder than it already was by the attitudes of other people including religious leaders who often thought of conditions like blindness as being a consequence of sin.

Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus “Son of David have mercy on me”. “Son of David” was a common and traditional title given to the Messiah –some have looked at these words and seen an expression of faith and this may be true. The Messiah was a longed-for figure who people hoped would come and establish God’s rule in Israel. Unfortunately, there had been plenty of claimants to the title “Messiah”, but none had proved to be God’s chosen one. May be Bartimaeus was engaged in a bit of careful flattery, pushing his luck a bit – People who want something are often overly polite when people come to me asking for money. Beggars and police officers are the only people who ever call you “sir” or “madam” these days. May be Bartimaeus was trying to ingratiate himself saying what he thinks were the right things to say to attract the attention of this passing holy man.

However  names in Marks Gospel almost always have significance and there is another possibility. Bartimaeus might have understood Jesus better than other people do.  Some have suggested that the second part of Bartimaeus name – Timaeus should be understood not as an Aramaic word meaning unclean but rather as the Greek word “timaios”  which means honoured. Why could Bartimaeus be thought of worthy of honour?

Robert Rowland a New Testament scholar who experiences vision impairment has argued that we should perhaps think of Bartimaeus in the perspective of the “blind seers” of the ancient world. Drawing on examples of blind prophets, Rowland argues that blindness was often accompanied by other gifts. Foresight, knowledge, philosophy, memory, and vocal abilities. Rowland says if this is true than perhaps we should think of Bartimaeus as a sort of biblical sage or wise person who contrasts with the able-bodied disciples who constantly misunderstand Jesus’s identity and message.

So Bartimaeus is able to point to at least part of the truth about Jesus which many people who could physically see, hadn’t yet recognised. Jesus was Messiah. May be not in the way that people often thought of Messiahs’. Jesus was not coming as a war-like king who would defeat the Romans in battle, but he had come to reveal God’s rule and to turn the world upside down. Just as when he is invited to do so Jesus will turn Bartimaeus’s life, and if we ask, Christ will turn our lives upside down too.

Questions to think about

  1. What resources has God given you?
  2. Have the challenges of your life ever led you to develop skills and abilities you would not otherwise have?
  3. Do you feel that God has ever turned your life upside down? If so, in what ways?

A song to think about
“Who You Say I Am?”

Who am I that the highest King would welcome me?
I was lost, but He brought me in
Oh His love for me
Oh His love for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh, is free indeed
I’m a child of God, yes, I am

Free at last, He has ransomed me
His grace runs deep
While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me
Yes, He died for me

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God, yes, I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God, yes, I am

I am chosen, not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me, not against me
I am who You say I am

I am chosen, not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me, not against me
I am who You say I am
I am who You say I am

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God, yes, I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God, yes, I am

In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God, yes, I am

I am chosen, not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me, not against me
I am who You say I am

I am chosen, not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me, not against me
I am who You say I am

I am chosen, not forsaken
I am who You say I am
You are for me, not against me
I am who You say I am
Oh I am who You say I am
Yes, I am who you say I am

Who the Son sets free
Oh is free indeed
I’m a child of God, yes, I am
In my Father’s house
There’s a place for me
I’m a child of God, yes, I am

Songwriters: Reuben Timothy Morgan, Benjamin David Fielding. For non-commercial use only.

Hymn StF 341 All for Jesus, all for Jesus.

  1. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
    this our song shall ever be;
    for we have no hope, nor Saviour.
    if we have not hope in thee.

  2. All for Jesus, thou wilt give us
    strength to serve thee, hour by hour;
    none can move us from thy presence,
    while we trust they love and power.

  3. All for Jesus, thou hast loved us;
    all for Jesus, thou hast died;
    all for Jesus, thou art with us;
    all for Jesus crucified.

  4. All for Jesus, all for Jesus
    this the Church’s song must be;
    till at last we all are gathered
    one in love and one in thee.


W.J. Sparrow-Simpson (1859 – 1952)

Intercessions

Loving God help us to understand our world as you do

That we may dare to recognise the world as it is

That we may dare to identify another’s needs

That we may dare to grasp the truth of each person as Christ does

And dare to follow Christ on the way to the cross.

Silence

Son of David have pity on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

We pray that we may not ignore the suffering of the world.

We pray for all whose fullness of life is challenged: 
for those whose circumstances have made them outcast, 
existing on the margins; 
for those experiencing economic hardship, 
whose lack of financial resources prevents them from taking a full part in our society.

Silence

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

We pray for those who are celebrating something new and hopeful in their lives. We thank you for new friendships, and locked doors that swing open to bring new possibilities.

As Bartimaeus seized the opportunity that Jesus brought him may we seize our opportunities too.

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

We pray for those who feel beyond hope, for all who are sick or who have any other need

For those who are sick and who have no available or affordable medical treatment; and for those who suffer alone with no one to comfort them.

Silence

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

We pray that we may not ignore the needs of our neighbours
We pray for those with mental health issues, 
those whom others find strange or inconvenient and are tempted to avoid;

 Silence

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

We pray for communities who are already experiencing the impact of climate change

Pacific Islanders whose land is being swamped.

People on floodplains who fear coming rains

People in arid areas who see grassland turning to desert.

We pray that people may not be silenced but like Bartimaeus find the courage to cry out for help

We pray that richer nations may not ignore the cries of poorer nations respond to their calls

Silence

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you

And we pray for the bereaved, 
whose grief is hard for others to witness. 

Support them with your mercy even when others have no words of comfort left to offer. 
We pray for your healing mercy to visit them today. 

Silence

Son of David have mercy on us:

May we recognise the truth and follow you Amen.

Hymn StF 674 “Would I have answered”

  1. Would I have answered when you called,
    “Come follow, follow me”?
    Would I at once have left behind
    both work and family?
    Or would the old familiar round
    have held me by its claim
    and kept the spark within my heart
    from bursting into flame?

  2. Would I have followed where you led
    through ancient Galilee,
    on roads unknown, by ways untried,
    beyond security?
    Or would I soon have hurried back
    where home and comfort drew,
    where truth you taught would not disturb
    the ordered life I knew?

  3. Would I have matched my step with yours
    when crowds cried, “Crucify!”,
    when on a rocky hill I saw a cross
    against the sky?
    Or would I have slipped away
    and left you there alone,
    a dying king with crown of thorns
    upon a terrible throne?

  4. O Christ, I cannot search my heart
    through all its tangled ways,
    nor can I with a certain mind
    my steadfastness appraise.
    I only pray that when you call,
    “Come follow, follow me!”
    You’ll give me strength beyond my own
    to follow faithfully.

Herman G Stuempfle Jr (1923-2007)

A sending prayer

Go into the world and widen your horizons.
Take in the margins, the shadows,
the grey areas where fullness of life is lacking.
And go, be merciful, as the Lord is merciful to you.
Amen.