Elmwood United
Reformed Church
Sunday 13th September 2020
What Do We Want?
Welcome -Claude
Call to Worship -Claude
Song: Come, now is the time to worship
Prayer's and the Lord’s Prayer- Jenny
Good News
Song: God is love
Bible Reading- Psalm 145:8-14
Song: He is exalted
Gospel Reading- Matthew 11:16-30 by Angela and in Punjabi by Vic
Song: Let your living water
Message by Rev Pat Nimmo
John has sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is the Messiah.
To put what Jesus is saying in modern language he is saying God has come to you in different guises, in different forms (John and Jesus) but you didn’t join in, you didn’t play, you didn’t celebrate you didn’t mourn, instead each time you were critical and dismissive.
God called the tune, and we wouldn’t dance to it; God sang the song that was supposed to move us, and we wouldn’t be moved! Does this apply to us?
Are we like children at a game, we are never satisfied, always fickle about what we want or what we expect.
Have we missed God because its not what we expected and been critical and dismissive? How sad for us if that is the case. But wisdom is proved by her deeds.
Then Jesus pronounces Woes on cities that have not turned to God. He alludes to Isaiah 14:15, comparing them with Babylon, the epitome of evil. Their failure to repent will bring upon them the horror of "Hades" and they will be trapped in the place of the dead.
What Woes would Jesus pronounce today? Would he say woe to you America because you have had your foot on African Americans for decades and appointed a leader who is killing them? Woe to you Britain because you have profited from the backs of slaves and immigrants for generations and have appointed a leader who is acting like Caligula and through his buffoonery has killed thousands?
Gods judgement will come.
And God has revealed himself to those who are pure in Spirit, humble. While those who think they are wise and educated are spiritually blind. The mysteries are revealed to the simple ones. The blessings of the kingdom are not unlocked by wisdom, power, and status but by humility. The "childlike", the lost and broken before God, those who seek Gods mercy and forgiveness. The secrets of the kingdom belong to them.
During the lockdown of Covid 19 people have been very anxious.
While the middle classes have largely worked from home, others, doctors, hospital staff, teaching staff, carers, the working class, the BME community have been on the front line. And because of that they and their relatives have died. Some are known to us.
They have been forced to work in situations without social distancing, without or with inadequate PPE, without testing, and they have been anxious for themselves their families and those they are responsible for, in hospitals, schools and care homes, on buses, on trains, at stations. And some have died.
People working from home have had their workloads increased. People shielding at home have had to cope with living in their own heads without the usual bustle of human interaction. A hug, a conversation, a laugh. And our mental health has suffered.
We have been very anxious-but God has been at work. In the middle of this devilish situation people have been healed, people have found faith, people have had their faith increased and God has been with us.
In the middle of the night when our anxieties wake us who do we turn to? Especially if we are alone.
Jesus say “Come unto me| all of you who are weary and heavy laden. And I will give rest for your souls.
Jesus offers the lost and broken the refreshment of God’s rest. He calls on us to take on the yoke of grace. The gift of God. The message of free and gracious salvation to all who reach out to him. This is kind and gentle, it is an easy yoke; a light burden, a yoke usually joins two oxen together to work as a team. When Jesus invites us to take his yoke and to learn from him, he is inviting us to join him in harness, to allow him to take the lead, to let him help us through the difficult times. Some of us have found that to be so. In a song, a text, a word, a phone call, the shopping done for us, a letter, a prayer, a kindness, support. God has been at work in the middle of this nightmare.
When you hear the sound of Gods tune through the noise, through the crowds, through the stress, through the traumas, like a golden thread, Gods piper, will you follow it and dance and mourn or will you not recognise God? I hope you will. Wisdom is proved by her deeds.
Amen
Song: Take it to the Lord in Prayer
Prayers of Intercession -Claude
Song: To God be the glory
Blessing -Claude